As great sporting soundbites go it wouldn’t be out of place in the Hollywood blockbuster Jerry Maguire.
Having just put pen to paper on a three-year deal at Hearts in the summer Beni Baningime boldly told Tynecastle chiefs not to worry - “I’ll make this club money”.
A Scottish football variation on Rod Tidwell’s “show me the money” moment in Tom Cruise’s NFL box office hit perhaps. But Baningime’s words to sporting director Joe Savage carried the same weight of self-assurance.
Thankfully for Hearts fans the 23-year-old Congolese midfielder’s belief he belongs on the big stage has been backed-up by a string of showstopping performances on the park.
His positive outlook appears to be rubbing off on his team mates too with Robbie Neilson ’s side riding high in third. And he insists it’s just the start.
Despite his promise to bring a bumper profit on the nominal fee Hearts paid Everton for his services, the Gorgie new boy wants to help create something special at Tynecastle first.
A win against Motherwell this afternoon will propel Hearts to the top of the table for 24 hours at least and ahead of the clash Baningime was asked about the bullish prediction he made to Savage just a couple of months ago.
And he laughed: “I did say that to be fair!
“I believe in God and I believe that things happen for a reason.
“When I was at Everton and the other places I went I felt I did well. But no-one gave me the chance.
“That’s completely fine, there’s a lot of great players at Everton.
“So in my head I knew if I am doing well there I am going to come here and hopefully I can get up and running.
“I think you have always got to have that confidence, it’s not arrogance because I have to put in the work, which a lot of people don’t see.
“But it’s having that confidence in yourself that you are a good player.
“That’s what I try to do, concentrate on my football and concentrate on achieving something here.
“A lot of people think I am going to be gone very quickly, but I want to establish something here, do something special here. And then whatever happens next, happens.”
To be fair to Baningime, being blooded in an Everton side that contained Wayne Rooney, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Gylfi Sigurdsson among others just a month after turning 19 meant he had to carry a swagger at a young age.
That was four years ago and he went on to make 12 top team appearances under David Unsworth and Sam Allardyce that season.
Unsworth was his mentor. But Rooney took the young midfielder under his wing, something the childhood Manchester United fan insists he’ll be forever grateful.
Not just at Everton either. Rooney returned to take Baningime on loan to Derby for the second half of last season after he fell out the picture at Goodison.
He said: “Rooney was a big influence on me when I was younger. I used to be a United fan and just looking at him I would think ‘wow’ — he has such humility.
“He would come across and speak to me and give me advice and then he brought me in at Derby and I was grateful for that opportunity because it felt like nobody was going to give me a chance.
“It didn’t really work out which is fine, but even when it wasn’t working out he was still great with me, helping me with different things. He’s been really key for me.
“I’ve not spoken to him since but my agent is close to him and he’s been saying how happy he is for me.
“It was a difficult time at Derby but it makes me appreciate what I have here at Hearts. It’s just football.
“You get brought into a club and the intention was to play but that changes depending on how the gaffer wants to play. They were playing good football. I was just maybe not the person for the job. But that’s why I am so thankful to be at Hearts.
“I’m not thinking about the next escape route. I appreciate it here, I’m enjoying it here.”
Baningime has taken no time to settle into Scottish football.
He was blown away by the standard at the club after just one training session and reckons the example of Leicester City’s Premier League success in 2016 should mean nothing is off limits.
He said: “Europe definitely has to be the goal. All the boys know that. We are doing well and beating teams and I think we should push for Europe and see exactly how far we can take ourselves.
“Should we limit our ambition? Not really. Leicester did it.
“I feel like sometimes that fear in your mind makes you want to settle for third. I think it’s really up to us.
“If we really believe in ourselves and we carry on working then we don’t know what the future holds.
“It’s exciting. There’s a buzz around the place.”
But can Hearts maintain their form and become serious challengers?
“That’s on ourselves,” he said. “That’s something we need to ask ourselves. Are we putting in the work, are we in the gym, are we bringing the intensity to training?
“If we do that then I believe we can push ourselves as much as possible.”
