Daniel MacKay says a loan spell at Kilmarnock could be the perfect chance to reignite his career.
The 20-year-old has already played an incredible 91 games after making his debut at just 16 – including appearances Europe with Hibernian earlier this season.
But after picking up an ankle injury a few months ago that he struggled to shake off, he is now desperate to get back on the pitch consistently.
He joined from the Easter Road side on a deal until the end of the season – and says Rugby Park was his only destination thanks to a conversation with Derek McInnes.
MacKay told the Kilmarnock Standard: “It has been really good so far, I came in on Thursday and met all the boys, they have been really good with me so far, as has the gaffer and the coaching staff.
“The boys have made me feel at home, and everyone around the club have done everything for me so far, I couldn’t ask for a better start in that sense.
“It was unfortunate we didn’t get the three points on Friday, but it felt really good being back on the park. I got injured in mid-October, it was a prolonged one and just wouldn’t go away.
“And then I caught Covid when I was injured which just set me back even more, it has been stop and start, but hopefully I’m on the straight and narrow now and I can just get back to playing football and enjoying games.
“I need to keep playing, obviously I’ve played a lot for my age, but the past few months I haven’t so I need to get back to it.
“I played a lot last year with Inverness, and my loan spell at Elgin was good too, I just need to try and challenge myself to get back to those levels.”
He added: “There were a few clubs interested, but as soon as I spoke to the gaffer I knew I wanted to come here, and I thought the time was right as I haven’t played much due to a recurring injury.
“I need to go out and play games, and I see this as a good opportunity to do that and hopefully I’ll have a nice reward in the league at the end of the season!
“Once I got the phone call from the gaffer I knew this was the club, and I knew I wanted to play for him.
“Obviously he worked at Aberdeen for a while and you can see the success he had there, so working for him had a huge attraction for me, as well as playing for a club the size of Kilmarnock.
“Kilmarnock is a massive club, I think it was just an off-year last season, so hopefully we can put them back to the Premiership and do it in a nice fashion as well.
“I’ve always known a lot about Kilmarnock and how close the club is to the community.
“I played at Rugby Park as a youth, you see all the banners about the place and you hear from people how good a family club it is, I am looking forward to being a part of it, it’s a good time to be at this club.”
MacKay starred for Inverness in the Scottish Championship last season making 24 league appearances of the 27 in the shortened campaign – and he also scored for Hibs in the Europa Conference League at the start of this season.
And he reckons those experiences could be crucial this season.
He said: “My experience of the Championship will definitely be important, the league hasn’t changed much in terms of teams and players, so I know it well. Hopefully that will benefit me and the team.
“The European experience was good with Hibs, going to Andorra which is somewhere you’d never think of going and then going to Croatia. It was good to get a goal, and we were unfortunate not to get through.
“But as I say it was a good experience and it’s something I’d love to do again, it has given me a taste for it and I’d love to do that in the future.
“The atmosphere at Easter Road and also away from home was great, hopefully I can see more of that.”
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