Werder Bremen’s chief personnel executive, Clemens Fritz, has explained the club’s reasoning behind signing Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface last summer despite being aware of potential fitness concerns, Footynaija.com reports.
Boniface, deemed surplus to requirements at Bayer Leverkusen, had initially looked set to join legendary Serie A giants AC Milan during the that transfer window, but the move ultimately fell through after the Rossoneri’s dissatisfaction with reports from his medical examinations.
Despite the concerns raised from that failed move to Milan, Werder Bremen went ahead to sign the Nigeria international on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day. Sadly, that decision hasn’t yielded the desired outcome for all parties involved.
Boniface managed only two starts without any goals in 11 Bundesliga outings for Die Grun-Weißen before needing to undergo surgery on a damaged cartilage in his right, keeping him rooted to the sidelines since late last year.
Amid growing criticism over Werder Bremen’s decision to make that move last summer, Fritz has come out to shed some light on the club’s reasoning at the time while also admitting some miscalculations on their part.
“At the factual level, everything about criticism is okay. But it should never be personal. Especially hiding behind pseudonyms on the Internet bothers me,” he said, per quotes revealed by Deichstube.
“There was an internal misunderstanding. Then the topic was in the world, and we made mistakes in communication to the outside world.
“I predicted it could get bumpy. I said: If we create value and run in as 14th on the table, then we took development steps, and everything is okay.
“We have developed players in a forward-looking way. Patrice Covic, Wesley Adeh, Salim Musah, Karim Coulibaly, Mick Schmetgens.
“Victor [Boniface] wouldn’t play 34 games, we knew that. That’s why our thought was: If we develop Keke Topp, but in Victor have the quality that we can share the playing time – that can work. From today’s point of view, this was a miscalculation.”
On a more positive note, Boniface’s recovery after that surgical operation on his knee has progressed faster than initially expected and the former Union St. Gilloise hitman is now working towards a return before the end of this season.
