Chubby Boniface back in training after the surgery

At the beginning of the year, Victor Boniface’s career was in jeopardy. The Nigeria striker, on loan at Werder learned that he needed the knee surgery. Both Bremen and Leverkusen agreed on that but that surgery probably meant that his season at Werder is over. Until then, he had 12 Bundesliga appearances and zero goals, and Bremen really counted on the prolific striker. With career on the line, Boniface went to Innsbruck and did the surgery, which happened to be successful. In fact it was that good that the Nigerian forward started to train on Tuesday.

Bayer Leverkusen player had a help from fitness coach Gunther Stoxreiter with whom he practiced sprints. Then, Thioune's assistant Jan Hoepner took over and completed initial ball drills with Boniface. The session ended after exactly one hour and all in all it looked good. It certainly gives much needed optimism to the player but to the club as well. Boniface was Werder’s most important signing back in September and they counted on his goals. The club is currently in relegation battle and the Nigerian striker would certainly help but for now, nobody can predict when will he be back, or will he be back at all until May.

"Victor will train individually for the entire week. Afterwards, he will be carefully reintroduced to team training, so we hope he can still make an appearance this season" said club president Peter Niemeyer. And the club’s vice-captain Jens Stage stated Boniface’s importance.

Career in jeopardy! Boniface's loan collapses amid injury fears

"I hope he gets fit very quickly and can help us on the pitch. He perhaps has the greatest potential in the squad; he's a really good footballer and a cool guy who jokes around. He's popular in the dressing room". The only downside of his early comeback was the weight. Victor Boniface was a bit overweight when he arrived in Bremen in September, but now, it was visible he got even more weight than before.