'I called' – Boniface reveals the Liverpool player who warned him against joining Leverkusen

Victor Boniface has revealed that former teammate Jeremie Frimpong attempted to talk him out of joining Bayer Leverkusen ahead of the 2023–2024 season.

Frimpong, who left Leverkusen in May 2025 to join Liverpool on a five-year contract, had endured a disappointing 2022–23 campaign with the German club, who finished sixth in the Bundesliga, exited the Champions League in the group stage and suffered an embarrassing DFB-Pokal first round defeat to SV Elversberg.

Despite the warning, Boniface pressed ahead with the move and made an immediate impact.

The striker was instrumental in Leverkusen's historic 2023–24 campaign, winning the Rookie of the Season award as the club claimed a domestic double and set a European record with 51 consecutive matches unbeaten.

Frimpong himself was central to that success, making 47 appearances across all competitions as Leverkusen lifted both the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal.

Boniface revealed that he sought advice from the Dutch defender before making the switch to the BayArena, only to be told that joining the Bundesliga outfit would not be a wise move.

"My best friend in my team is Jeremie (Frimpong). I’ll say this on camera for the first time," Boniface said on the Culture League podcast.

"Before coming to Leverkusen, I called Jeremie. I said, 'Bro, I have this offer to come to Leverkusen.'

"Do you know what he told me? He said, 'It’s good for you not to come, we are a rubbish team.' They had a bad season before."

Boniface revealed that he later told his teammates about the warning he had received.

"We had a meeting in front of the coach and they asked if I had anything to say. I said that before coming to Leverkusen I called somebody and he told me not to come."

Boniface, who has yet to make his season debut, has been omitted from Nigeria's final squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and South Africa, despite making the provisional roster.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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