Super Eagles captain Williams Troost-Ekong appears to have backed Victor Boniface for the 2024 CAF Player of the Year award, as he calls the Bayer Leverkusen attacker a world-class player.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria make preparations to welcome the Mediterranean Knights to Uyo for the first leg of their double header AFCON qualifiers clash on Friday.
With Augustine Eguavoen’s selected squad for the tie full of young players with less than 10 appearances for the country, Ekong, with 73 appearances—the second most capped player, only behind Fulham midfielder Alex Iwobi (81)—falls among the few experienced members of the team.
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Ahead of Friday’s game with Libya, the Super Eagles captain was asked about his role in bridging the gap between experienced players and veterans of the team, and the defender spoke highly of Boniface.
Troost-Ekong on Boniface
Troost-Ekong showered praise on the 23-year-old attacker, describing him as a world-class striker.
“We have some players with a lot of caps now with the national team that have to help the guys. We spoke about Boniface before who is a world-class player in my opinion,” Troost-Ekong told reporters, as quoted by All Nigeria Soccer.
While fellow Super Eagles Ademola Lookman is regarded by many as the frontrunner for the CAF POTY award, the 31-year-old defender believes Boniface is also a strong contender, highlighting the Leverkusen striker’s contribution for his club last season.
“Someone has also mentioned African Player of the Year for what he did for his club. Like anyone he has come here with us now, he has been a few times, and with players like that that have all the talent, they don’t need any help.
Boniface tallied 21 goals and 10 assists in 34 appearances in the 2023-2024 season and has started this season in similar fashion, with ix goals and one assist in nine games so far, as per Transfermarkt.
However, he has scored just one goal in seven appearances for the Super Eagles and will be looking to improve his tally when Nigeria take on Libya.
