Fit-again Beni Baningime believes Hearts will help him banish his 15-month injury hell by reclaiming third place next season.
The Tynecastle fans’ favourite hasn’t kicked a ball since tearing his ACL in March last year and had to watch as the Jambos let third place slip after a dramatic collapse that saw Robbie Neilson axed and replaced by Steven Naismith and Frankie McAvoy. That cost the club a guaranteed £5m shot at European group stage football. But Baningime is among a number of key players who should return from long-term injury lay offs in the coming weeks along with Liam Boyce and Craig Halkett, with skipper Craig Gordon a little further off.
And once they’re back to a full complement the Congolese playmaker is confident they will wrestle the best of the rest crown back from Aberdeen and stay ahead of Hibs into the bargain. He said: “I’m an ambitious guy. The table doesn’t say we’re the third best team in Scotland.
“But if you look at the team and the number of players we were missing through the majority season and who can come back in and make a difference then I believe we will get third again. That’s the aim and hopefully we can achieve it.”
Hearts head out to Marbella for their pre-season training camp on Friday. Frankie McAvoy will take charge of the team for the forseeable as head coach while Naismith awaits his relevant UEFA qualifications.
But last season’s interim boss has already left his mark on the squad. Baningime said: “He’s not had anything too specific to say to me, he’s just spoken to all of us as a team and set what our goals are. That’s to finish third.”
