Toby Sibbick can’t wait for Beni Baningime to be back expressing himself on the pitch - after a week of having to listen to his room mate’s “crazy opinions” in Marbella.
The playmaker got his first action since tearing his ACL against Livingston 15 months ago when he came on for the last quarter of an hour of Hearts' 1-0 friendly defeat to Plymouth in Marbella on Thursday. That spelled the end of a mentally draining period for the former Everton midfielder. At first the Jambos had pencilled in a return around World Cup time in November. But as the knee refused to repair at the desired speed eight months on the sidelines became almost double. Sibbick insists the 24-year-old’s quality on the ball in the middle of the park was a massive miss for the Jambos as they lost their grip on third place in the Premiership.
But even in just 15 minutes against the Pilgrims he showed he’s lost none of the old craft that made him a fans’ favourite before his injury. Baningime’s love of a forthright opinion was clear from the off at Tynecastle when he declared “I’ll make this club money” in his first interview. And Sibbick reckons he can just about put up with his mate’s strong beliefs if he keeps producing on the pitch.
He said: “It’s class having Beni back. I’ve been rooming with him and we’ve been talking. We all know his quality and he will be like a new signing for us along with Liam Boyce. We can’t wait to have them with us for 90 minutes.
"He’s not naive, he knows he has to take it slowly still and can’t rush it. I told him he has worked hard for over a year now and his chance is coming so he doesn’t have to force it.
“It’s pre-season, it’s intense, but his minutes will get built up. Even in the 15 minutes against Plymouth you could see his quality. He does it in training as well and sometimes you just have to applaud it. It’s almost like he’s a step ahead of everyone.
“When he’s back to his best everyone will realise how much we missed him last season. He’s had the right people round about him to help him through a difficult situation.
“Hopefully he can keep building his strength and getting sharper and help us because he’s a big player. Beni and Stephen Kingsley do most of the talking at dinner time. There’s always debates going on and it gets heated sometimes. Some of his opinions are crazy! But that’s a conversation for another day.”
Sibbick was the subject of a £600,000 bid from Blackpool - which was booted out by Hearts - in the last window and speculation has dragged into the summer with clubs in the Championship and League One understood to be monitoring his situation.
But the 24-year-old former Barnsley defender has no desire to move back south. He is loving life under the new management team of Frankie McAvoy and Steven Naismith - even if there’s an element of back to school about it. Naismith spoke last week about the frontfoot high tempo change in style.
And Sibbick said: “I think when they first got the job they had to pass on detail in little bits. But now they have the job longer term there’s a lot more detail for us to take in. Everyone is enjoying it. It’s a brand of football us as players like to play.
“It’s back to school a little bit! We’ve had a lot of meetings, they’ve shown us what they like in training and they’ve shown us clips of what they liked last season as well and what they want us to take forward.
“I take the speculation with a pinch of salt, it’s speculation, nothing has happened yet, I don’t know anything that’s going on. My mind right now is just focused on here and I’m looking forward to the new season.
“This is a big club and I enjoy the challenges that come here, so I’m just looking forward to the new season.”
It’s a fresh slate for Sibbick and his team mates but the memory of throwing away third place despite having a healthy eight point advantage in February - hasn’t been completely extinguished as they look to grab back the best of the rest tag.
Sibbick said: “For us it was a big blow considering the position we were in. But now you can only look to the future and use that pain we experienced to fuel us on this season and make sure if we’re in that position again it doesn’t happen again.
“We’re looking forward to the season and starting as strong as we can. First and foremost we want to get into the group stage of the Conference League having been there last season.
“And for me it’s about holding down a starting position and playing as many games as I can and doing well. I think it is tough. We have great competition in this team so no position is nailed down. All you can do is be at the top of your game and give yourself the best chance of being in that position.”
