Beni Baningime in Hearts future address as he makes one thing clear over his contract status

The Hearts midfielder has provided an update on his future.

The midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season.

Beni Baningime has revealed he won't sign a contract before the end of the season - with Hearts or anybody else.

The midfielder featured from the start as Steven Naismith's side drew 1-1 with Kilmarnock in the Premiership on Saturday. An iron grip is cemented on third spot and St Mirren in Paisley come next for the Tynecastle side.

With the club moving to sign Motherwell's Blair Spittal, Livingston's James Penrice and Ross County's Yan Dhanda on pre-contracts, no agreement has been reached with the former Everton midfielder. Baningime will focus on matters on the pitch between now and May before turning attentions to the future.

He said: "Ultimately I won't be signing any contract with anyone before the end of the season. We're doing it at the end of the season. I've spoken with my family, there won't be any pre-contract with this team or this team.

"For me, it's focusing on Hearts and finishing third. Last season we let it slip so we still need to hold onto that and hopefully go on and win the cup if we can. That's basically my aim. But with those players coming in and where the club is going it definitely makes you start to think, 'Okay, I'd want to play with these players' because they are good players."

One player Baningime can see into the future with is Macaulay Tait. The youngster started in midfield alongside him and impressed, adding to the impressive cohort of talents head coach Steven Naismith has in that position, including Aidan Denholm and Finlay Pollock.

There were only signs of nerves at a tender age, and now Baningime can see a bright future for Tait. He explained: "He’s a very good player. The future is very bright for him. He can do whatever he wants to in his career. He’s a great lad. I thought he did well. There will be many, many more days like this for him.

“His ability on the ball is very, very good. He is quite small but he’s very aggressive. He will go into challenges, he is not going to shy away. He’s a great kid, we see it all the time in training.

“So no-one is surprised he is doing well and the gaffer is giving him his chance. For me it is exciting to see him grow and continue to play.

"To be fair when I first met him he was 16 and he was quite nervous then! But he would do certain things and I would tell him: ‘You belong here. You just need to believe’. This season he has taken his chance and done well and I am happy for him.

“It’s not like he asks me questions, I think he knows exactly what he needs to do. Today I spoke to him before the game and told him: ‘You’re good enough, you deserve to be here.’

“I speak to a lot of the boys, I speak to him, I speak to Finlay (Pollock, (Aiden) Denholm. They’re all in my position. Obviously you’re all competing to play but it’s not like a competition where you don’t want someone else to do well.

“We’re a great bunch, so I don't say much, a little bit of encouragement and correction and whatever, and vice versa. Just because he is young it doesn’t mean he can’t help me out. So I’m very happy for him and there’s not a lot of correction there, to be fair."