When Frank Onyeka made a fuss about getting mainly a substitute’s role at mid-table Brentford, pushing for a move for more game time this summer, his manager Thomas Frank admitted the midfielder was right.

Two matches into the Nigerian’s loan at Augsburg in the German Bundesliga, and he may be making a statement for a more important – where he goes.

Early days? Of course but Onyeka as a combative midfielder has never not been a standout performer.

Frank Onyeka (l) and St. Pauli’s Carlo Boukhalfa (r).(Photo by Harry Langer/picture alliance via Getty Images)

At Augsburg Jess Thorup have found some good use of the player, reminiscent of his time at FC Midtjylland, where he was literally a human tank.

Early Statement

In both his Bundesliga appearances, Onyeka has cut through the middle, and almost seamlessly adapted.

His early revival is almost a testament to the general perception that the Bundesliga revives careers – a long list of players have made that jump.

Bundesliga Player’s Rating

Early days data collation of the biggest defensive performers in the German top flight, interestingly, has Harry Kane leading the pack.

Briefly, but further down the list another forward and Onyeka’s compatriot, Victor Boniface.

Boniface is having another fantastic run with Bayer Leverkusen and for players who have got over 120 minutes in the league this season he’s the 7th best performer in the category per Whoscored.

Victor Boniface

3apps
245mins
0.3tackles
1inter
0.7clear
7.74rating

Where does Frank Onyeka pop up?

The Brentford loanee is 21st overall in the top defensive performers of players with two or more appearances – and overall performers in all general categories.

Frank Onyeka

2apps
173mins
3.5tackles
2intercepts
1clear
0.5drib
1block
7.33rating

vs. Mainz 05

On Friday night in his second outing for the club, Onyeka played the entire duration of the game and in a midfield pivot was a big presence.

Frank Onyeka takes a shot whilst under pressure from Dominik Kohr during the Bundesliga match between FC Augsburg and 1. FSV Mainz 05 at WWK-Arena. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

He completed 66 passes, 77 touches, 2 attempted tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 aerial duel, and a shot on target in transition. One foul on his stats sheet and it earned him caution for it bringing his rating to 6.6 per the same stats website.

However, unlike in his first game, Augsburg allowed a very good opportunity slip, falling 2 goals behind and halved the deficit.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men, but conceded again ad chased the game until they also lost a man and couldn’t catch up.

It’s now four games for Augsburg in the league and have already suffered their second defeat, sitting 12th in the standings.