German Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen have placed a £47m price tag on Nigerian striker Victor Boniface, who is a top target of Premier League giants, Manchester United, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
According to reports in England, the Red Devils enquired about the 23-year-old forward from the German champions on Tuesday.
However, Leverkusen are not keen to lose their most prized asset too soon, and have quoted the 13-time Premier League champions £47m for the Akure-born talisman.
Boniface had a fantastic start in his debut season in the German Bundesliga, contributing to 31 goal involvements in 34 games (21 goals and 10 assists). His outstanding performances helped Leverkusen secure two trophies, and he was named the Bundesliga Rookie of The Month five consecutive times between August and December 2023.
He then suffered an injury, which ruled him out from January to April 2024 but despite this, his 14 league goals ensure Boniface was the highest goal scorer in Leverkusen’s unbeaten run and was named the Best Rookie of the 2023/24 season.
He triumphed over competitors like Xavi Simons of RB Leipzig, Ian Maatsen of Borussia Dortmund and Maximilian Beier of TSG Hoffenheim to win the accolade, which recognises the best-performing U-23 talent in the league.
He started his sojourn in Europe in 2019 with Bodo Glimt in Norway, where he also won the league title in 2020 and 2021. After three seasons in Norway, he then moved to Union SG in Belgium during the summer of 2022 where he spent just one season and won the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League top scorer award, before Leverkusen came for him with a five-year deal.
Boniface is the second Nigerian Manchester United will be linked with this summer following their interest in Victor Osimhen.
The Red Devils are said tp have offered cash plus Rasmus Hojlund in a deal for the Napoli striker, and it will be interesting to see if the Italian giants are willing to accept such an offer.
Napoli are prepared to cash in on Osimhen this summer despite being their leading top scorer for the past two seasons, including in the Scudetto-winning 2022/23 campaign.
