Two reasons Victor Boniface must reject Hannover 96 move

Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface has been linked with a switch to Bundesliga 2 side Hannover 96, but there are strong reasons the 25-year-old should turn the offer down, Afrik-Foot reports.

Boniface has been pushed down to third-choice striker at Bayer Leverkusen under new head coach Carles Martínez Novell, behind Patrik Schick and Christian Kofane, and needs regular minutes to recover both his fitness and his standing in the game.

On paper, Hannover 96 solves the minutes problem. Under head coach Christian Titz, they can offer Boniface a starting shirt, a No. 9 role and week-in, week-out football at a club with real Bundesliga history behind it.

The problem is where that football would be played, and what it would say about a player who was scoring goals in the Champions League less than two years ago.

Why Victor Boniface must reject Hannover 96 move

1. Hannover is a level below Leverkusen

The first concern is the level of the league. Hannover 96 have been in Bundesliga 2 since their relegation in 2019 and finished 4th in the second tier last season, a full division below where Boniface has spent every year of his senior career in Europe.

That matters because he has already tried the “drop down for game time” route once, and it did not work.

His season-long loan at Werder Bremen in 2025/26 produced 11 Bundesliga appearances, zero goals, and one assist on the pitch, before a knee operation in January 2026 effectively ended the campaign and ruled him out of the AFCON 2025 tournament in Morocco.

Werder was at least a Bundesliga club, with top-flight rhythm and top-flight opponents. Hannover 96 would be a step further down, into a league where the physicality is different, the coverage is smaller, and the pool of clubs likely to sign him again in January or next summer shrinks considerably.

2. Boniface must prove himself at a higher level, not hide from it

The second reason is directly tied to the player’s potential. Boniface is the same forward who scored 21 goals and provided nine assists in 34 appearances during Leverkusen’s unbeaten 2023/24 Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double under Xabi Alonso, earning the Bundesliga Rookie of the Season award.

That version of the player attracted a proposed €5 million loan plus a €24 million option from AC Milan in the summer of 2025 and interest from Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr worth up to €70 million, before the Milan deal collapsed over his medical.

🚨🟡🔵 EXCL: Al Nassr are on the verge of reaching verbal agreement with Aston Villa for Jhon Durán for €75m fee with add-ons.

❗️ But formal steps needed as Al Nassr also have advanced negotiations in place for Victor Boniface with Bayer…

…and only ONE striker will join. 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/OxYybx0bYa

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 29, 2025

To get anywhere near that market again, Boniface must stay fit over a full season, prove that his goal touch has returned, and that he can still deliver against the level of defender he was punishing two years ago.

Bundesliga 2 defenders do not test any of those questions in the way the top flight does.

A stay-and-fight strategy at Leverkusen carries risk too, given the presence of Schick and Kofane in the pecking order, but a January loan to a Bundesliga or Serie A club would be a far more useful pivot than dropping into Bundesliga 2 now and having to climb back out of it later.

Boniface must protect his ceiling

There is a version of this Hannover move that looks sensible on the surface, guaranteeing minutes for a striker who has not started consistently since Xabi Alonso’s title-winning season.

The problem is that “just play” logic is exactly the trap that took him to Bremen, and Bremen gave him no goals, no assists worth talking about, and another knee operation.

Boniface’s ceiling remains a top-five league starter and a Super Eagles centre-forward. To get back there, he needs the right stage, not simply any stage, and Hannover 96 in Bundesliga 2 is not it.