Parfitt-Williams fit after bike accident
Djair Parfitt-Williams has returned to full training with West Ham United after recovering from a motorcycle accident during a visit to Bermuda.
Parfitt-Williams, 19, suffered a bruised hip and road rash on both arms when the bike he was travelling on as a passenger collided with a car.
He will now be hoping to be involved in his club’s Europa League third-round qualifying match next Thursday against either Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or Slovenian side Domzale.
It is expected Slaven Bilic, the West Ham manager, will look to field youngsters and fringe players such as Parfitt-Williams in the qualifying matches.
“Djair is back in full training and preparing for the new season,” a West Ham spokesman told The Royal Gazette.
Parfitt-Williams is considered one of West Ham’s most exciting talents and featured twice for the club’s first team against Lusitanos of Andorra in the Europa League qualifiers 12 months ago, and was an unused substitute in four Barclays Premier League matches last season before he suffered an injury.
He also helped the club win the Barclay’s Under-21 League Cup with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Hull City at the KC Stadium after the two-legged affair remained deadlocked at 1-1.
West Ham have made a request to Uefa asking to play the second leg of their Europa League qualifier at home — to ensure the Olympic Stadium is ready.
If approved, Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or NK Domžale of Slovenia will visit the Olympic Park for the return leg on August 4.
Pulled out of the hat first at the draw, West Ham would ordinarily have to play the first leg at home, in this case on July 28.
However, with the Anniversary Games being held at the Olympic Stadium the previous weekend, the club fear they would not have time to switch it back to ‘football mode’.
In a statement on the club website, the Hammers said both Shakhtyor and Domzale had agreed to the switch to August 4 in principle, and a final decision should be ratified by Uefa in due course.
The teams are currently tied at 1-1 after the first leg, with the second leg to be played in Slovenia next week.
West Ham were forced into playing a qualifier after being pipped for sixth place in the Premier League by Southampton on the final day of last season.
Slaven Bilic’s side are taking on Juventus, the Italian champions, in a friendly which was supposed to mark the opening of the stadium on Sunday, August 7, but are now set to host less glamorous opposition three days earlier.
Parfitt-Williams was playing for the San Jose Earthquakes academy when he was recommended to West Ham by Clyde Best, who played for the East London club between 1968 and 1976.
Best, who had been contacted by the player’s grandfather Lynn Wade, said he immediately spotted something special in Parfitt-Williams, who was then aged 14, during a Somerset Trojans training session.
Parfitt-Williams, one of two Bermudian players at West Ham along with goalkeeper Nathan Trott, had been invited to train with the United States Under-17 squad but decided to attend the trials at West Ham instead.