By Monsurah Olatunji
Nigeria international Victor Boniface has been nominated for the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for October.
The 22-year-old has now been nominated for the third consecutive time after winning the award for August and September.
Although he wasn’t in his prolific goalscoring form for the month, the forward recorded one goal and an assist for Xabi Alonso-led side.
Meanwhile, Boniface recorded 15 shots on goal which was the most in the division for October and he is also the player with the most shots (54) since the start of the Bundesliga ahead of Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane (36).
The Super Eagles star only failed to register a goal involvement in one game. He also scored his maiden international goal for Nigeria, having only made his debut in September.
In total, he has managed seven goals and five assists for Bayer Leverkusen in 10 Bundesliga appearances this season.
Boniface is set to battle Germany U21 international Brajan Gruda who recorded two-goal contributions for Mainz 05 and RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons who registered 2 assists.
The Rookie of the Month must be younger than 23 on Matchday 1 of the new season and he cannot have started a Bundesliga match in any previous campaign.
Furthermore, players can have accumulated no more than 450 minutes of action before the start of the current Bundesliga season.
Thereby, youngsters who have only made brief appearances in their careers so far and who have not yet had the chance to showcase their talents, still have the opportunity to be named Rookie of the Month.
The fans are entitled to 40% of the vote while the clubs and selected Bundesliga experts share the remaining percentage equally.
At the end of the campaign, a Rookie of the Season will then be voted for from the selection of monthly winners.
