Our good friends at IslandStats, a Bermudan sports news source, recently caught up with Djair Parfitt-Williams to discuss his whirlwind time at West Ham, Slaven Bilic’s methods and Dimitri Payet, among other things.
Parfitt-Williams is a Bermudan-born footballer who signed for West Ham last summer. He’s capable of playing on either wing and is a very highly-rated prospect.
He made two substitute appearances for the first-team last season, in the Club’s Europa League fixtures against Lusitanos, but injury thwarted his progress. When he returned, Djair played a major role in West Ham’s U21 Premier League Cup win – scoring a 90th-minute winner in the first-leg.
Djair has spoken to IslandStats about his debut season in England and what it was like to join up with the first-team for the Europa League fixtures.
“My main focus at the start of the season was to impress the new coach, Slaven Bilic, and try to get as many opportunities in the first-team as possible.
“It was like a dream come true [against Lusitanos] because I have to play in front of like 34,000 fans. That’s everything you dream of when you’re growing up and trying to make it. I got to come on for the last twenty minutes and it felt amazing.
It gave me a lot of confidence and it showed me how close you really are to being where you want to be.
Last season was West Ham’s last at the Boleyn Ground, more commonly known as Upton Park, and Parfitt-Williams stamped his name in the Club’s history with his goal in the U21 Premier League Cup final.
“That was probably one of my best moments in a West Ham jersey. That was the last final that was played at Upton Park too, so there was a lot of fans there.
I can’t even explain how it felt. The thing is, after you score and you go to celebrate, it is like a blur. You don’t really remember it.
“There was a real big buzz around the whole training ground, all the staff, all the coaches. Everybody knew that the club was going in such a good direction and everybody wanted to be a part of it.”
Djair was knocking on the door to the first-team last season, but suffered major injury setbacks which thwarted his progress. He opened up on how he pulled himself through, giving a special thanks to his Mum.
“When I got injured, I think because of the person I am I didn’t really believe it until a week later. When they told me I was injured I was like ‘no, I’ll be fine by next week’. Then they put me in a cast and on crutches and that’s when it hit me. They predicted me out for 12 weeks, but I came back in seven or eight. I was just so focused on getting back. You have to be very strong-minded.
I had such a good taste of where I wanted to be, so I just had to get back to it. That helped me come back stronger.
“It’s good having good family support. I think that’s a little extra push that you might need. I would love if I had them right next to me, but that wasn’t what I was blessed with that at this time. Hopefully, that will come in time.”
Dimitri Payet played a major role in West Ham’s success last season and has been linked with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona this summer. Djair admirers the Frenchman and says the pair have a good relationship.
“I like him because he’s a very humble person. He doesn’t act like ‘I’m this and I’m that and you’re younger than me’. He still comes over and says hello to me every morning and shakes my hand. We’re always laughing and doing tricks together in training.
“For him to have a relationship with me means a lot to me, because I look up to him as a player. I feel me and him have similar attributes in our game, so for him to be such a cool guy to me is good.”
Djair then talked up next season, highlighting his desire to play first-team football, whether that be at West Ham or out on loan.
Two things, I’m gonna go back in pre-season and go straight into the first-team. If that doesn’t work, then I will go out on loan to play. Either way I’m very confident.
