Super Eagles striker, Victor Boniface, could have easily been playing for Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League this season.
The 22-year-old has enjoyed a blistering start to his Bayer Leverkusen career after netting eight goals in his opening seven outings.
Leverkusen signed Boniface for just £16million from Brighton’s sister club Union Saint-Gilloise, who were previously owned by Albion chairman Tony Bloom prior to this summer.
Bloom has since relinquished his majority stake in the Belgian side in July after Brighton secured qualification for the Europa League last season.
The move was made to reaffirm that USG remained a separate entity from Brighton following communication that UEFA were prepared to investigate the relationship between the two clubs, who are now competing in the same competition.
But despite the segregation, the Seagulls have previously made the most of their bond with their Belgian counterparts, cherry-picking Union’s top talents including the Kaoru Mitoma, Deniz Undav and Simon Adingra.
Intriguingly, Brighton were in the market for a new striker earlier this summer – landing Joao Pedro from Watford in a club-record £30m deal for Roberto De Zerbi.
However, the Seagulls opted to swerve a deal for Boniface after he netted 22 goals and registered 12 assists in all competitions at club level last season.
