Derby County coach Liam Rosenior has backed Everton loanee Beni Baningime despite the midfielder’s lack of action in the Championship, speaking to the Derby Telegraph.
If the 22-year-old felt a move to Pride Park would provide him with the first-team football he’s crying out for, he may be a tad disappointed about how things have gone since his January switch.
Baningime has played just three minutes of football so far under Rams boss Wayne Rooney.
What’s more, the youngster has been left out of the matchday squad altogether for two of Derby’s past five league fixtures.
But Rosenior, Rooney’s assistant coach, is convinced the Congo-born midfielder will have a part to play between now and May, hailing his performances on the training pitch.
“Beni is another outstanding character. He gets on great with the players,” says the former Fulham defender.
“Beni hasn’t played first-team football for quite a while but what he has done, and because we train so intensely, his fitness levels and sharpness have gone through the roof in the time he has been here.
“He is pushing. He is really pushing. He has been outstanding in training. He is pushing the other midfield players and I’m sure, sooner rather than later, you will see him maybe come off the bench or even start a game.
“He is a huge part of our squad, like every member is.”
With Graeme Shinnie, Jason Knight and Max Bird impressing at the heart of Rooney’s well-drilled midfield, Baningime certainly has his work cut out.
The Toffees youngster looked set to establish himself as a key player at Goodison Park when bursting on to the scene as a teenager a few years ago.
But, remarkably, he has failed to start a Premier League game since a 3-2 victory over Watford in autumn 2017, when David Unsworth was in the dugout and Rooney was still a player.
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