Home » Six critical articles in less than 48 hours: A bizarre media campaign against Boniface
Victor Boniface of Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Six critical articles in less than 48 hours: A bizarre media campaign against Boniface

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

Given the way that we operate as a website that aggregates news, we often notice trends in a variety of different ways.

Over the past 48 hours, there has been an abundance of rumours about Victor Boniface joining Milan. From the reliable sources, this quickly developed from contacts between the clubs to an agreement being in place, and now everything is in place for a loan with option to buy move.


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Gauging social media and our own comment section, it would not be outlandish to say that the reaction to the move has been largely positive. Boniface is a top-level striker arriving via an advantageous formula and for figures that are not beyond Milan’s reach.

Of course there are some concerns, such as the fact it is only one year of guarantee (he may not permanently sign, in essence) for a €5m loan fee, and his injury record is the biggest doubt. However, what we have seen from La Gazzetta dello Sport has gone well beyond proportional criticism.

In the last 48 hours, the following headlines have appeared on their website, and all are different articles that are negative about the deal:

📰 “AC Milan, Boniface is a risky option: in 2025, more games missed than goals scored.”

📰 “Condition, injuries, arguments with teammates… here’s why Leverkusen wants to sell Boniface.”

📰 “AC Milan, no Hojlund. The reserve choice Boniface is coming.”

📰 “Boniface, AC Milan fans protest on social media: ‘Two broken cruciate ligaments’, ‘And his character…'”

📰 “Boniface’s medical has been postponed for Milan. He failed his tests in Saudi Arabia.”

📰 “Postponed medicals, limited playing time, and… Boniface is an unknown quantity, and Allegri still has to wait for the attack.”

victor boniface
Image: Fabrizio Romano

This is beyond one or two articles highlighting the concerning aspects of a particular operation. This is a bizarre orchestrated media campaign that seems to have been conducted from the top, unless each individual writer has an axe to grind with the Nigerian.

One of the most remarkable aspects is the article which scrapes only the reactions from underwhelmed fans and pins the negative feeling on supporters, as if La Gazzetta are not contributing to it or even creating it themselves.

Other targets such as Dusan Vlahovic and Rasmus Hojlund never got the same treatment, despite the respective concerns. There was no criticism about Vlahovic’s attitude, nor Hojlund laying out demands for his own exit despite showing a limited scoring ability.

Sadly, we are not naive enough to believe that perfect impartiality exists, especially in the biggest news organisations. In the end they may be right – Boniface could miss 30 games and prove to be not what Milan needed. Nonetheless, campaigns like this need to be highlighted, because so many take the word as gospel.

Oh, and we must mention that Inter have had an offer for Andy Diouf accepted this afternoon. Did La Gazzetta decide to raise concerns about the fact he is an alternative to Manu Kone, the fee or the idea he is not proven?

Their headline: “Power, versatility, head held high, and that goal against Fiorentina… Inter, who is Andy Diouf and how does he play?” Of course.

Tags AC Milan Victor Boniface

85 Comments

  1. Well said boys, glad you picked up on this bizarre media campaign. I think on the whole we are as fans happy with this business especially considering the structure and it’s inbuilt safety net so to speak

    1. I agree. This is the first quality analysis article been waiting for. Knowing italian media and influence against clubs outside the playing field, this should be always addressed. In the glory days of Milan no one dares to target the club like that. We need to be vigilant and trust Igle, Allegri and the tram. This is how it should be always.

  2. Really embarrassing newspaper. The postponement of medical is literally invented. There was no medical scheduled as the deal was not yet final.

  3. Give the boy a chance…the deal is protection enough so no need to raise a stink about this recruitment. Hojlund doesn’t offer any guarantees either and we all know that at his salary level Milan will not get Vlahovic…

  4. Haven’t seen anyone protesting or talking negatively about this signing. Even in Sempre Milan comment section which loves to criticize every move this management makes.

    1. Maybe because none of them were informed about his attitude and injury history.

      Let’s say it’s a huge risk the management is taking and let’s just hope it comes with a great reward!

      1. None of us were? I think most of us on here have discussed it. I did too. The upside to this transfer is too great and his goalscoring record is well known. And management may still get another striker after him.

      2. “Let’s say it’s a huge risk the management is taking and let’s just hope it comes with a great reward!”
        What is the “huge risk”? It’s a loan with an OPTION to buy. Very little risk involved in that.
        What else you got?

  5. Hasn’t so much as kicked a ball yet. And they act like we bought him for 50mil. He’s on loan with the option to buy if we actually like him. Where the heck is the issue? If he comes good we get him for only 24mil. This isnt bad

  6. The media campaign and attack vs Milan has been going on for a while and especially has been amped up over the last 2 years. Nothing new there, we are used to it by now.
    When it comes to this situation, even though the media might exaggerate and adds few lies, there is a lot of truth in their reporting.
    Boniface is a risk, thats a fact.
    Two broken cruciate ligaments, fact.
    Reserve choice, after Vlahovic and Hojlund, also a fact.
    I can’t speak about his character and failed medicals but something feels off.
    How you go from 60-70 m transfer in January to a loan transfer with 30 mil non mandatory buyout option 6 months later?
    Leverkusen sold Amine Adli for 20+ million and he was a backup, but they are letting Boniface leave for only few more millions than that, and its not guaranteed that they’ll get them.
    I found something online about his failed transfer.

    Al Nassr offered to pay Victor Boniface 15 Million Euros-a-year, a huge improvement on the Two Million Euros he earns at Bayer Leverkusen.

    The Bayer Leverkusen striker justified his decision to agree to a transfer to Saudi Arabia because of his history of injuries as well as the agreement to the offer by his German club.

    “I have been injured so many times, if I go and play two, three seasons…the money was a lot,” he told the podcast The Culture League

    “I agreed to the offer because there was also the club, who were offered 70 million Euros, and they wanted the money.

    “In football, it was not just about me, but also the club.

    “I was ready to go, I packed my bags, gave away my designer clothes and shoes to friends, the plane was waiting.

    “But at the last minute it didn’t work out.”

    I hope it works out this time and he becomes one of the greatest strikers to put on a Milan jersey.

    1. Yeah it’s a fishy one. You can only hope the management in their haste to find a new forward, have done their due diligence.
      Anyway low risk and talented

    2. I’m with you on that. The reporting might be OTT but the injury risks, not being first choice and complete collapse of his valuation are concerning.

      That said, there’s definitely one key difference between him and the other two that might make an Italian tabloid newspaper in 2025 be more critical of his character than others’…

      Respect to him about his honesty about moving to KSA for security and money, much more real than the players claiming they’re going there to make a social impact or because of the ‘project’.

      Likewise, I hope it works out because he has the potential to be a lot of fun to watch and prove a lot of people wrong. And if he does, we all win!

    3. Every transfer with limited days are done so cheap and most of them are on loan meanwhile 30m isn’t a small transfer

      1. Less than 30 million loan with no obligation to buy for a striker of Boniface quality and age, with 3 years left on his contract, is a very small fee on a very favorable terms for Milan. Leverkusen bought him for 23 m just 2 summers ago, and he had 2 very good seasons there.
        Transfermarkt has him valued at 40m, and he was about to be sold for 70m this past January.
        We all hope he stays healthy and scores a lot of goals at Milan, but no, this is not just some ordinary transfer that happens because of limited days in the transfer window.

    4. Great observations though.

      But how come you omit the fact that almost all the important players are leaving Ten-Hag’s team?

      But yeah, maybe Boniface has a bad attitude, anything to use to support your lame and absurd observations.

  7. There was no medical scheduled today. Can’t fail something you didn’t even do. But I suppose the media has this all figured out already. They work out the sale then do the medical.

    Very bizarre behavior. And he’s coming on a low cost loan. We may still get another striker, and chances are we will.

  8. They are all injury-prone so unfair to him.
    Affordable compared to Vlahovic
    Hojlund is a gamble too (he ditched us too),
    Boniface/Leao can be magical ✨️ 😍

    1. I agree! I love Boni’s explosive first touch and strength. I also think that the combo with Leao can be fire! I hope he stays healthy!
      Only thing I’m afraid is Allegri making the most out of the speed of these two.

  9. What the media failed to mention is that Boniface is a low risk direct replacement for the sold Okafor who was not a major contribution to the team.

    So if Boniface fails, Milan are not expecting more than Okofor contributions, but if Boniface succeed then Milan have not only improved on Okafor but have secured the right to sign him permanent at modest cost.

    The media can carry their campaign to whatever level. MILAN management this term are on track and we the fans understand that Leao is our first choice in Attack, then Giimenez, followed by the next 2 strikers to be signed.

  10. I hope this somehow motivates him and gives him the extra venom.
    This can be a master stroke and I think a good majority of our fans understand it’s a gamble, but a calculated one.
    Guy has achieved way more than both Vlaho and Hoijlund.

  11. I don’t know why this is coming up now? Give Boniface a chance and respect he deserves and when Milan bought other players nothing like this came up against the new players so why him?
    He’s a very strong player and his injury days are over.
    Meanwhile inter Douf is a midfielder not a striker and we are talking about a player who scores goals and pushes forward when his team needs him.
    Boniface will make Milan stronger and better so I don’t know why this post is coming up
    The writer is a fan of Inter or jealous of Milan’s new Team because the same group of writers were the one reporting that Leao is going to Bayern Munich even when he was in Singapore scoring goals so please leave the poor boy alone and don’t be an obstacle to his success

  12. I wish boni well. He will shock all these haters. It’s even good for him. Cos it will allow him to be under the radar. Those that much is spent on, much is demanded of them. There was similar issues with Pulisic where we heard he was injury prone. But look at him now. He has been our best player since his arrival. loftus cheek is the only one who is not consistent. I believe with the right mindset, conducive environment, Boni will prove himself.

  13. So in the summer that this ownership will have made close to 200mil in sales they had an opportunity to solve an old problem at Milan which is that of a reliable focal point striker (not named Gimenez). And instead what do they do? They wank around names like Vlahovic and Hojlund and end up taking a player on loan with an option.

    Vlahovic was never going to come here making 12mil a year, nor would they take him on at even 6mil a season, but they sure dragged it out.

    Hojlund, regardless what I think of his skillset, also was never coming on loan because he wants certainties about his future, which is understandable. And frankly Milan would have never bought him out at 45-40mil or whatever that price was.

    So these guys waited and waited until almost the start of season to find a loan with an option deal from wherever they could… Enter Boniface. Don’t get me wrong, great talent when he’s fit. But having the money to purchase a striker without disclaimers and asterisks, the still ended up going after a loan option. Why?

    Because some things will never change, namely our ownership and their approach to building this team. And the arrival of Gimenez and Jashari doesn’t move the needle because the former was brought in as an emergency striker in a season slippign away in a hurry (wchihc didnt help); and the latter was brought in as a the token gift to Allegri.

    Bottom line is that this ownership is never truly interested in investing in this team for any relevant sporting accomplishments. That’s why players of a certain caliber will always look to move on from Milan to win elsewhere.

        1. But you wait long enough into the summer and both of them were purchased. THATS MY POINT.

          Then you throw your hands up in the air and say ‘oh well…. guess we’ll take a loan on injury prone boniface”.

    1. Who exactly should we have bought? All the decent ones are gone or not for sale. With Camarda coming back next year, all we needed was a decent striker on loan with an affordable option but no obligation. That’s exactly what we got. Tare knows what he’s doing.

      If Boniface doesn’t work out or gets injured, we send him back to Leverkusen and get Camarda. This deal is low risk, potential high reward. I can’t understand why some people are complaining. Certainly it’s a minority. Most fans are happy with this deal. That’s exactly what this article is saying. I’m surprised that you, ACM1899, one of our best posters, seem to be one of the dissenters, if I understood you correctly.

      As for all this delay; it has surfaced that Tare wanted Boniface above all, and Allegri was the one who wanted Vlahovic or Hojlund. Out of respect for Allegri, Tare was working on the head coach’s preferred options. Maybe Tare proceeded without haste because he wanted to have time to convince Allegri that Boniface was the best option. Reports are that Tare invited Allegri over for dinner, and during that dinner he was finally able to convince Allegri to drop the other two and accept Boniface. The next morning after that dinner, Tare traveled to Germany to close with the player and his club. Master work by Tare.

      Yes, there are risks. Life is risky. When we got Pulisic everyone criticized the deal saying that Puli was made of glass and injury-prone and was a mediocre Chelsea reject, and risked being a flop. People said he was only signed to enhance merchandise sales in the USA and because the owner is American. It turned out that Puli became our best player (or co-best with Rafa depending on who you ask).

      So, let’s hope that Boniface despite some risks of injury and some behavioral issues, will pay off. The risks are offset by the formula. If things go sour with Boniface, we can always use Rafa as false 9 while we wait for Camarda. Also, Gimenez is perfectly capable of having a good season, with our improved midfield to feed him.

      Poor Gimenez joined mid-season a mess of a squad that made no sense and didn’t play as a team, under a horrible head coach, and he was rarely fed by our struggling midfield. He had to jump into a train wreck and adapt to a new league, a new club, new teammates, and a new (and mediocre) coach. No wonder he did relatively poorly, in a season when the whole team underperformed and even Rafa struggled.

      Things seem to be progressing now. The new signings actually make sense and the team already looks more cohesive and more organized.

      Let’s have some faith. Forza Milan! Welcome, Boniface!

      1. All the decent ones are not for sale in the summer where a bunch of top strikers changed clubs? Did Milan offer for Gyokeres? What a load of nonsense. You are saying that no one is available on 20th of August? No sh*t Sherlock.

        1. And who exactly out of the top strikers that were sold this summer, do you think will accept our package (salary terms, non-UCL team in Serie A)? Most of these guys are chased by all top teams and basically they decided where they want to play.

          If we have several good seasons in a row starting now, maybe in 5-10 years we are not going to be a stepping stone for players like Tiji (and I am sure the same is true for Ricci, Jashari and all other prospective big names in the future).

          1. I’ve heard Tare is a magician. Realistically you don’t know if some of the strikers that were available would be interested in joining Milan. Why did all the players Milan signed come to Milan if Milan is doing bad? Milan didn’t try for anyone that isn’t a potential bargain, and it is a fact.

          2. I hear you, but as we didn’t know he was working on Boniface (apart from 1 mention of an interest from a month ago), you don’t know if he didn’t try the bigger names as well. We are all acting as if we know what’s going on, but probably 15% of the info filters to media and half of it is incorrect or exaggerated..

            And I am not saying he is magician or the club is doing so poorly, but there are external factors we have no control over that we have to consider as well. Serie A is very tough for strikers specifically and is considered lower tier league than EPL or La Liga. We can’t spend like crazy, we don’t play in Europe for at least a season. Our team is promising on paper but largely new, including management. Allegri provides efficiency in his teams but not attractive football. All these weigh in when you are on the market.

        2. Gyokeres? Dream on! What are you smoking? Do you actually think that we can compete with Arsenal, go above their finances, and attract someone like Gyokeres without even being a Champions League team? LOL. And you say I’m the one spouting a load of nonsense???

          Go away, troll.

          1. Luigi, but you’re already discounting Milan as being relevant and just proving my point that this ownership isn’t improving this team sportingly, making it more appealing for top players to want to come to.

            Sure Gyok and Sesko may not have come when offers came in from EPL, but these owners DIDN’T EVEN TRY…

        3. By the way, Gyokeres’ new salary at Arsenal is 12 million Euros. Do you actually think we can afford him? You need to swallow a reality pill. Get out of LA LA Land!

          1. qqq’s post didn’t have a reply button.

            Replying to qqq: new club, new teammates, new country, new language, new coach… Being bad in the first game for someone facing all these new conditions is more the rule than the exception. Players need some time to gel and to adapt. Gyokeres will eventually become a huge asset for Arsenal; mark my words.

  14. Guys, what did you expect? GdS are a bunch of interisti and Juventini. They ALWAYS try to create drama regarding Milan, in the hope of destabilizing things. Don’t listen to GdS.

    If you look at the sites that show performance graphics, Boniface far exceeds in ALL fundamentals, those of Vlahovic and Hojlund.

    And he comes with an option to buy; not an obligation, so the risk is minimal.

    Great work by Tare. And no, in a sense it was not a reserve option. Unlike Allegri, Tare thought that Boniface was the BEST option which is why he invited Allegri to have dinner with him, and during dinner he was able to convince Allegri; the very next morning after that dinner, he traveled to Germany to close the deal. Boniface was Tare’s first choice. He was working on Vlahovic and Hojlund out of respect for Allegri, but ultimately he wanted Boniface.

    1. What happens if he is out for 75% of games? I understand there is low risk for the future since Milan doesn’t have to sign him but what if Boniface is not available for most of the season? He played under 10000 minutes of football and he is almost 25. Some backups collect more minutes by 25. “Injury prone” Pulisic has 25k minutes played and he isn’t what, a year older than Boniface? Did you include that in the “performance stats”? How much games he missed already?

      1. If he misses games we’ll play with Rafa as false 9.

        We are only playing once a week except for unimportant Coppa games for which we can rotate.

        Boniface hasn’t had a ligament problem in 5 years. He has had muscle problems but like I just said, his workload will be smaller.

        In a 3-5-2 we can go with Puli and Rafa upfront and we also have Gimenez. The physical demands on Boniface will be milder than what he had at Leverkusen when he got injured. Muscle injuries come mostly when players are overworked.

        Yes, there are risks, but all transfers have risks. We are protected against catastrophic failure by the formula of loan without obligation to buy. And we have other options for the attack.

        All we need from Boniface is a decent season while we wait for Camarda to return.

        If Boniface doesn’t perform we send him back. If he does, we exercise the right to buy for a very affordable 24 M. Great deal.

        1. I agree with most but the part about being overworked. Boniface has 1 season where he played minutes like normal footballers do. All others he is seriously lacking in minutes so there is an obvious issue. We’ll see how much he plays, I don’t have high hopes from a guy that has under 10k minutes in 7 years of professional football so he can hardly disappoint me. Reijnders did those minutes in 3 years.

          1. Well, that’s why it’s been said that he will undergo extensive, deeper than usual, medical tests today. If he passes those, he will sign his contract. If he doesn’t, then back to Leverkusen and we will try someone else (not that there are great options out there…). I guess we’ll end up with Embolo, in this situation; then we have to hope for Gimenez to do well.

    2. Boniface isn’t a solution. He’s a gamble. A striker with an asterisk. The only kind we’ve been after this summer, when our prffits would have allowed us to shop at “more expensive stores” and not The Goodwill.

      1. The profits came in little by little. At the beginning of the mercato it wasn’t clear that we’d have all this money, and the only certain sale was Reijnders with structured bonuses, so for now just 55M and no UCL money, and given that we had multiple needs in multiple positions, Tare was careful; we couldn’t burn it all going for a top striker. And even if we wanted to do so, Gyokeres was snatched by Arsenal for (I think) 75M and with a salary (this, I know for sure) of 12M. We were never going to be able to match that, and Arsenal, #2 in the EPL two seasons in a row and solidly in the UCL, was much more attractive to the player than #8 Milan with no UCL, in an year when players want to shine because of the upcoming World Cup. So, our managers were being realistic; trying to get “a striker with no asterisks” was never a realistic option.

        Saying that we should have shopped in more expensive stores can only be said in hindsight, now at the very end of the mercato, after Tare was able to offload a bunch of dead weight for good money. The fact that we made 200 M in sales didn’t come out of nowhere; it was thanks to Tare’s hard work; so to criticize him for not engaging in premature spending before more funds trickled in, is unfair to him.

        What Tare did with the conditions he was given, is nothing short of a miracle. He brought in 8 decent players, some of them very good like Jashari and Ricci (not to mention class act Modric for free). And now he brought in who was possible to get as a striker which sure, is a gamble, but with a very favorable formula to protect Milan.

        During the time of Maldini and Massara we brought in some good people (like Rafa, and some flops like Origi) but also lost others for free and had difficulty offloading dead weight.

        In my opinion we now have a proper Sporting Director and he’s doing a great job with reinforcing the team in a way that makes sense for the coach’s style and makes sense as a team, while before we were buying random names with no clear vision for where they would fit some project; we didn’t even have a project.

        We are definitely looking better now than at the beginning of last season. Better coach, a competent SD, some good players, and a team that makes sense.

        I don’t expect the Scudetto. There were too many changes and the team will need to gel, and like the case is for all transfer windows, some of the new players will likely flop. There are never guarantees at 100%. Napoli and Conte look too formidable and are the clear favorites.

        For us, this is a recovery season. If we make top 4, it will be hats off to Tare and Allegri, as they started with a mid-table #8 team that was a train wreck and had a bloated and ineffective roster. Then with UCL money, next season we may challenge for the Scudetto.

  15. I must say we’re operating so differently once we have a REAL sporting director. How we got Boniface with an option-to-buy loan is just pure class. It certainly needs a high degree of negotiation skill to get this kind of deal.

    And sure, there’s always a risk in any transfer. Just hope that he won’t end up like the other Nigerian in our team.

  16. We had Tammy Abraham LOL, and all Tammy needed was a few good midfielders, yet we let him go back to Roma.😄 Tammy would have dominated with Modric and Jashari joining. And he wanted to stay.

    What a mess.

  17. Maybe he had a agreement that if Milan come they would let him go? Maybe he and the club both wanted too part way?

    Not everything has to be malicious and devious.

  18. The media’s being biased, distorting the facts and trying paint someone in a bad light… I’ve never heard of this before 😳

      1. Isn’t — “Boniface, AC Milan fans protest on social media: ‘Two broken cruciate ligaments” — distorting the facts and trying that the majority of Milan fans are for this move?

        1. Exactly. GdS engaged in blatant lies pretending that the majority of Milan fans were against this deal. The truth is much the opposite: A poll has shown that more than 80% of Milan fans approve the Boniface deal. The less than 20% who don’t are the eternal whiners, of which we have a fair number here.

        2. Which ones, where? Of course you the brainless clown was for that transfer. You will write about Maldini 5 years from today, your limited brain capacity can’t develop new ideas

  19. We’ll see, what was written are probably not lies. Leverkusen asked for 60M and suddenly they’re ok to let him go on loan with option to buy for half that amount? Leverkusen aren’t mo*ons and Tare isn’t a genius to make them drop the price like that.

      1. But truly, why did Leverkusen want to let go of a striker on terms that don’t at least guarantee a sale? For a player that lit up the team with goals a year ago when Xabi Alonso worked his magic?

        What gives? He didn’t all of a sudden become a bad striker, right?

      2. You should thank the “genius” for stating the obvious. Only Goku, dejan and you can be that stupid not to spot the elephant in the room.

  20. Oliver I really like the way you write and express yourself regarding Milan matters.
    But you should know that historically Gazzetta is under Inters influence, if I could say it that way.
    To be fair though, Boniface is the replacement to Vlahovic and Hojlund.
    As a matter of fact Hojland would have been the replacement of Vlahovic.
    As soon as Alegri joined Milan, he asked for one name : Vlahovic.
    My opinion is that Milan is doing good going for Boniface.
    Vlahovic doesn’t want to give up on the 12M he earns.
    Regarding Hojlund, Arrigo Sacchi was clear, if he doesn’t want to join ACM then let him be. ACM is larger club than United. If people have a different opinion, they can check the history

    1. It’s a really funny world when the fans of the 8th in Serie A and 15th in PL are fighting over which club is the greatest and over a guy with 3 goals for a whole season in the league. Let’s focus on the present and future instead of our glorious history :).

      Hojlund walked under the table when both ACM and Man Utd won their last CLs. He just happened to be raised in a family of Man Utd fans and that is okay. Same goes for Gimenez.

  21. Gents, let’s not argue for too long. Time will tell. I can see that Italian press is fond of being biased. Just like someone said here, Milan should do their Due Diligence. Read between the lines and contextualize the whole situation. But then , where is the time to do proper check ?

  22. Inter merda social/media criticism to block Milan from securing his move. How many players has been on Milan bench earning and not playing e.g the likes of Bakayoko, if Milan can get can get Boniface as a loan and with an option to buy it’s a good deal that I will support. About his character what has football got to do with character, is he the only player that has a bad character or is it because others are hiding there own and exhibiting it under ground that makes him bad. Let’s use the chance and get Boniface, we can even add another striker as back up and about injury even the most strongest player can get injured at any time or maybe at crucial moment when the team needs them the most so let’s be realistic please.

  23. Nothing new, but kudos for reporting this. Those shady affiliations and dependancies in italian sports media needs to be called ut and condemned more often. It’s a complete pathology by any media standard.

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