Beni Baningime recently returned to Everton following his loan spell at Wigan Athletic, but his temporary exit from Goodison Park couldn’t have gone worse. The 20-year-old made just one appearance for Wigan during his five months at the DW Stadium and was seemingly frozen out of the first-team by Paul Cook.
Baningime joined Wigan on January 31 and made the Latics matchday squad two days later in a 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers. The midfielder was an unused substitute but made his debut for Athletic a week later against Rotherham United. Baningime was thrown into the deep end by Cook, playing a full 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw at the New York Stadium. He didn’t feature again, however.
The uncapped DR Congo man would be replaced by Samy Morsy against Stoke City days after the Rotherham draw and wouldn’t be seen for the remainder of the season. Despite being pictured training with the first-team, Baningime continues to be overlooked by his manager. His move to Wigan couldn’t have gone worse, as he found himself in a similar predicament at the DW Stadium as he did at Goodison Park.
Baningime has amassed just 90 minutes of competitive football in 2018/19. Whether he can get back in favour under Marco Silva next season remains to be seen.
Crippy Cooke’s previous article
Opinion: Marco Silva has one major problem with £15k-per-week Everton man