Hearts ace Beni Baningime claims leaving Premier League Everton has “revived” his career, telling the Edinburgh News he contemplated giving up top-level football.
Four years ago, the Congolese midfielder was forcing his way into the first-team picture at Goodison Park, making 12 appearances in a breakthrough 2017/18 season, earning comparisons to N’Golo Kante and the admiration of Manchester United (Daily Mail).
The world, it seemed, was at Beni Baningime’s feet.
Flash forward to the summer of 2021, however, and the now-23-year-old Baningime had failed to make a single Everton appearance since Sam Allardyce’s short-lived and unloved spell in the Goodison Park dugout.
But, after underwhelming loans at Wigan Athletic and Derby County, Baningime is breathing fresh life into a stuttering career north of the border, a regular fixture at the Heart of Robbie Neilson’s engine room.
Baningime finding new life at Hearts after Everton departure
“This (move) has revived me. That’s the word – it’s a revival,” says Baningime as Hearts sit third in the Scottish Premiership.
“There was a time I felt like giving up. I was speaking to God and I said: ‘I want to give up. I’m done.’ It had reached a point in my head where I was thinking no-one would ever give me a chance.
“Many people think I’m just trying to go for the next move. That’s not really my mindset. I’m not in a rush. I want to appreciate everything I’ve been given here. It’s an opportunity I didn’t think would come. I really didn’t.
“For the gaffer to have such faith in me and for the boys to be so great with me, it’s something really special. If I ever do go or whatever happens afterwards, Hearts will always be in my heart. It will be somewhere I’ll think: ‘That’s where I started my career.’
“Because of Everton and the different places I’ve been, I’ve never really had that opportunity.”
Baningime signed a three-year contract with Hearts last summer, moving to Tynecastle on a minimal fee.
A man of the match award in the recent 2-1 victory over Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic offered a timely reminder of the qualities bubbling beneath the surface. A man who once looked like the future of Everton Football Club is making up for lost time in a new league and a new land.
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