Baningime: So thankful to Hearts; 3 tough years at Everton | OneFootball

Former Everton midfielder Beni Baningime is delighted joining Hearts.

The midfielder made an Everton breakthrough into the first team back in 2017 at the beginning of David Unsworth's temporary spell in charge following the sacking of Ronald Koeman.

He told the BBC: "Oh, I had big confidence issues. I was bad. Really bad. I remember David Unsworth saying to me on my debut, 'Are you ready?' and I wanted to say no, but I said yes.

"If David said, 'You don't have to play', I wouldn't have played. I was doing OK on the pitch but in my head I was thinking, 'What am I doing here?'.

"I have a lot more confidence now. It's a thing I had to get over."

The midfielder continued: "A hard three years, but it didn't bother me. People think I'm lying when I say that, but I'm not. I had joy in those three years. Only people who know me will understand.

"The bible says, 'You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you'. The whole time I had peace.

"That's why you can't put your joy in football because injuries and rejection can happen and I had to learn it the hard way, I had to learn that God is the only one who is going to stick by you when the whole of football had forgotten who you were.

"My agent would say, 'There's no one in for you'. I thought, 'I'm a decent player, I'm not that bad'. Last window, who was in for me? Hearts and maybe one more. Everybody else was like, 'We don't want him'.

"That's the reality. Now my agent is saying people are starting to see you again and I'm like, 'Why didn't they give me a chance before? That's why I am so thankful to Hearts and what the club has done for me."