The jury is still out for Chelsea's summer transfer window, with Mauricio Pochettino's business proving to be a mixed bag so far, though there are plenty of positives.

Certain variables, like the long-term injury inflicted upon Christopher Nkunku in pre-season, make it difficult to form a convincing opinion – but the Frenchman's past exploits in the Bundesliga certainly tantalise a successful career to come.

Nicolas Jackson's performances have certainly left much to be admired, with the Senegalese striker largely struggling in front of goal and despite scoring seven this term, three of those did come when Tottenham Hotspur were reduced to nine men.

Club-record signing Moises Caicedo, meanwhile, has shown glimpses of why he was regarded as one of the best-holding midfielders in the league and set the Blues back a staggering £115m, but the 22-year-old still needs to add more consistency to his performances in order to repay that price tag.

By contrast, Cole Palmer has been sensational and is comfortably one of the most admired young players in the Premier League having taken to life at Stamford Bridge like a duck to water.

Although it is hard to disagree that Palmer hasn't been a resounding success, Chelsea have struggled as a whole and following a disappointing 4-1 defeat against Newcastle United on Saturday, the west London outfit are already 12 points behind fourth-place Aston Villa.

Pochettino's young squad have a mountain to climb and if they are to stand any chance of launching a challenge on their European aspirations, they will need to continue to add first-class quality to the squad, with Victor Boniface the latest player to enter the narrative.

Chelsea transfer news – Victor Boniface

Whilst a move for long-term target Victor Osimhen would be possible in January, Napoli value their prize possession at a staggering £120m.

Considering Chelsea paid £115m for Caicedo in the summer, UEFA's financial fair play regulations would be breathing down their necks if they were to shell out a three-figure sum on one player for the third transfer window running.

With Osimhen seemingly unattainable in the winter, Calciomercato – as relayed by the Hard Tackle – state that the Blues have identified Osimhen's countryman, Victor Boniface, as a potential target.

The Bayer Leverkusen striker, who has scored 11 goals and supplied six assists in all competitions this term, could provide the Blues with a long-term solution to their prolificacy having struggled with strikers of late.

Since Didier Drogba left in 2015, and arguably Diego Costa departed in 2017, Blues fans have been waiting for a prolific forward and Boniface – as demonstrated by the above scoring exploits – could be the answer to that glaring problem.

With a value of €50m (£43m), according to the CIES Football Observatory, the 22-year-old would be an attainable target, unlike Osimhen, and boasts similar attributes that were readily associated with Drogba in his heyday, namely his strength to shrug off defenders, his explosive pace and world-class finishing.

Victor Boniface's style of play

Ever since cutting his teeth in the game at Real Sapphire in his homeland, Boniface has been touted for greatness and has been lauded as "amazing" by former Nigerian superstar, Jay-Jay Okocha.

He made his breakthrough in the European game at Norwegian giants Bodo/Glimt, where he posted a respectful 23 goals and eight assists in 66 games between 2019 and 2022.

After earning a move to Belgian side Union Saint-Galloise in the summer of 2022, the goals continued to flow, hauling an impressive 17 strikes and 12 assists in 55 competitive appearances for Union, including a hat-trick on his debut in a UEFA Champions League qualifying game against Klaksvik.

Since switching to Leverkusen in the summer, he's continued showing that red-hot form in the Bundesliga and such performances have seen him earn a description of a "defenders nightmare" by scout Antonio Mango due to his ability as an all-round centre forward.

Compared to one of the greatest strikers of this generation, Robert Lewandowski, by the Bundesliga official website, Boniface is adept at using both feet, physically powerful, strong in the air and surprisingly silky with the ball at his feet, whilst sharing his clever movement and ability to lose his marker with the Polish superstar.

Victor Boniface's statistics this season

As alluded to previously, Boniface has been in scintillating form this term with seven goals and five assists in the Bundesliga as Xabi Alonso's swashbuckling side sit at the top of the table.

Through his immense scoring power and incredible all-round attributes, Boniface has posted similar attacking metrics to the likes of world-class talents, Kylian Mbappe, Lewandowski and Romelu Lukaku in the past year, as per FBref.

Statistics

Value / Percentile rank

Non-penalty xG

0.78 / top 1%

Shots total

4.98 / top 1%

Assists

0.45 / top 1%

Successful take-ons

2.89 / top 1%

Progressive carries

3.11 / top 4%

Touches (Att pen)

7.02 / top 5%

Shot creating actions

3.34 / top 10%

All stats via FBref

The above table depicts where Boniface ranks among his positional peers across Europe's top five leagues and considering he places within the top 1% for non-penalty xG, total shots, assists and successful take-ons, the Nigerian superstar is transforming into an unstoppable machine who is matching, if not, bettering the best strikers on the planet.

It only further fuels Chelsea's interest, with Pochettino and co undoubtedly taking note of his quick integration to life on German shores; given how successful one fellow African turned out to be in west London, it might be an auspicious road to go down.

Chelsea's next Drogba

In the Jose Mourinho era, Drogba established himself as one of the most prolific strikers on the planet and fired Chelsea to consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006.

After signing from Marseille for £8m in 2004, the Ivory Coast machine scored an eye-watering 164 goals and served 88 assists on a platter for his Blues teammates as he wreaked havoc, with Mourinho lauding him as "unstoppable".

At the peak of his powers, Drogba certainly proved the special one correct by plundering 29 goals and supplying 13 assists in the 2009/10 Premier League campaign before capping a first spell at Stamford Bridge in the best way possible by scoring in the winning penalty to lift the Champions League against Bayern Munich in 2012.

Whilst remaining at Leverkusen is an attractive proposition currently given they are battling with Bayern for the Bundesliga title, if Boniface has aspirations of cementing his legacy as one of the best strikers in the world, he should take the plunge and move to Chelsea.

As Drogba found out, there's no better way to achieve the above than unleashing his scoring powers in the Premier League.