Simon Rolfes, Bayer Leverkusen’s managing director for sport, justified on Wednesday the registration of attacking midfielder Jonas Hofmann rather than striker Victor Boniface for the Europa League, and gave a blunt assessment of the Nigerian’s situation.
Victor Boniface will not be seeing Crete. Bayer Leverkusen fly to Greece on Wednesday to face OFI Crete on Thursday in the Europa League (18:45 Paris time, Pankritio Stadium in Heraklion). The 25-year-old Nigeria international striker is not in the squad. UEFA regulations allowed the club to register a player outside the list to cover Martin Terrier’s long-term injury: they added Jonas Hofmann rather than Boniface.
Simon Rolfes owned the decision in front of the press at the pre-departure press conference. According to remarks relayed by Bulinews and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the executive explained it by Hofmann’s versatility, while giving a frank assessment of the situation of Boniface, who remains on the fringes of the team.
Terrier out, Hofmann preferred
French striker Martin Terrier is suffering from a muscle injury to the back of his left thigh, sustained in the 4-0 win over Lech Poznań, and is unavailable until December.
“Jonas is a very versatile player who can play in different positions. I think it’s important to have different profiles available for different situations. If we could have, we would have liked to take both, but we decided in favour of Jonas, and he will be with us tomorrow,” said Simon Rolfes, quoted by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and Bulinews. Boniface’s season so far amounts to five minutes of Bundesliga football, on the opening matchday, with an assist in the 3-2 defeat at Elversberg.
Pressing “never his major strength”
The executive did not stop at justifying an administrative decision. He also pointed to a lack of intensity in his striker: “In terms of intensity, pressing and work off the ball have never been his major strengths, even when he was playing and scoring goals. He has other qualities. We want to bring his physical level as high as possible so that he can express his undeniable qualities,” he said, according to Bulinews.
The assessment comes in a context where Boniface remains on the sidelines. In the 4-3 win against Mainz, he went straight down the tunnel in the 84th minute, after Equi Fernández and Jonas Hofmann came on.
A depleted squad in Crete
Despite this personal setback, Simon Rolfes refuses to sound the alarm. “It doesn’t change anything about Boni’s situation. He has to stay fit, keep working hard and improving, and then his opportunity will come. I’m not worried. His most difficult period was at the start of the summer, and he came through it. Since then he’s been much better, mentally too,” he said, again according to Bulinews.
Bayer Leverkusen nonetheless head into the trip with a reduced squad: besides Terrier, Christian Kofane, Eliesse Ben Seghir and Guéla Doué are out. Two U19 academy players, Ben Hawighorst and Gabriel Minutillo, joined the trip to Greece, according to the club’s official website, bayer04.de.
On the numbers front, Carles Martínez’s men, the head coach, have taken six points and a goal difference of +6 (6-0) in two matchdays of the Europa League league phase. They also come off a 2-1 win against Freiburg last weekend, which leaves them fourth in the Bundesliga. Their opponents, OFI Crete, who surprised Hoffenheim 2-0 at the Pankritio Stadium in their European opener, will try to repeat the feat on Thursday night.