This season, Victor Boniface of Bayer Leverkusen has won the Rookie of the Month award four times in a row. He won the November award after defeating Xavi Simons and Merlin Röhl in the voting.
For a player to be considered a Rookie, they have to fulfill certain requirements. He cannot have started a Bundesliga game in any prior season and must be under 23 on Matchday 1 of the new league.
Furthermore, prior to the start of the relevant Bundesliga season, players may not have accrued more than 450 minutes of playing time.
This implies that young people who haven’t had the chance to fully showcase their talents in their career due to their limited appearances still have a chance to be named Rookie of the Month, presented by Sorare.
The monthly winners receive one of the coveted Bundesliga Rookie trophies, before vying for the Rookie of the Season prize. As well as the fans (40%), Bundesliga clubs (30%) and a panel of Bundesliga experts (30%) are part of the voting process.
Victor Boniface has made the Rookie of the Month award his own this year. Since joining Bayer Leverkusen from Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise in the summer, the striker has claimed the trophy in each of the first three months of this season.
He’s back again for a fourth attempt in November, despite not scoring last month. Instead, he chipped in with two assists in the 3-2 win away at Hoffenheim on Matchday 10. The Nigerian was his usual shot-happy self with 11 attempts, but he is much more than just a classic centre-forward.
He also set up three attempts for teammates, meaning he was directly involved in a shot on goal every 18 minutes on average.
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