Victor Boniface wants to leave Bayer Leverkusen in January. Bulinews reported on Thursday that the striker's representatives have made that wish clear. He was left out of Leverkusen's Europa League league-phase squad, and no concrete talks with another club are known.

It is the only Nigerian transfer story that has properly moved this week. The rest? Follow-ups and opinion pieces, with the window still more than two months away.

Boniface: one cameo, then the Europa League snub

The numbers explain the frustration. Pulse Sports counted one appearance since his return from a loan at Werder Bremen. Five minutes off the bench, in a 3-2 defeat at SV Elversberg on the opening day. Pulse also reported that he stormed into the dressing room after spending the whole of the Mainz game on the bench. Coach Carles Martínez tried to play it down at his press conference. “We still have Patrik (Schick) and Boni (Victor Boniface) up front,” he said. Injuries to Martin Terrier and Christian Kofane looked like an opening, yet Boniface was again among the substitutes when Leverkusen beat Freiburg 2-1 on 18 October.

Bulinews was careful about the next step. No club is named and a transfer is not believed to be at an advanced stage, which is why we keep the story at rumour, with medium reliability, until a suitor or a bid is reported by someone else.

Hannover 96 were linked with him in August.

Nothing came of it.

Okoye, Nnadi and the stories that did not move

Inter's interest in Maduka Okoye was last weekend's big Nigerian story. It has gone no further. ThisDay repeated the Messaggero Veneto report on 18 October: Inter are monitoring the Udinese goalkeeper, no offer has been made, and Udinese value him at around €20m, a price the Italian paper presented as an obstacle.

New name: Tochukwu Nnadi. Afrik-Foot wrote on 19 October that Marseille could sell or loan the midfielder in January. The reason given is money: the club must balance its books for the DNCG, France's financial watchdog, by June 2027. No suitor is named.

Henry Onyekuru remains the closest to a deal. He is still unsigned. Fanatik and Fotomaç reported on 9 October that Bursaspor were in advanced talks with the free agent over a half-season contract. He cannot be registered before January, and nothing has been announced since.

As for Victor Osimhen, Afrik-Foot named Juventus on 19 October as the likeliest Serie A home for him in 2027. It cited only unnamed reports. No approach has been reported.

Four stories have gone quiet for more than six weeks, so we have marked them off: Calvin Bassey at Fulham, Wilfred Ndidi at Beşiktaş, Zaidu Sanusi at Porto and Joe Aribo, who is still a free agent after leaving Southampton in the summer.

Every status and every report is on our Nigerian transfer tracker. How the players are doing on the pitch this season is in the Nigerians abroad stats tracker.

This article was most recently revised and updated 26 seconds ago