Adrion Pajaziti has praised Marco Silva for putting his faith in Fulham’s youngsters and is hoping to make further appearances after impressing on his debut at Birmingham last month.
The Kosovan under-21 midfielder has given a detailed interview to the Athletic’s Peter Rutzler this morning, explaining how Fulham’s new head coach has given him confidence after offering encouragement during his first few weeks in the job. The tidy central midfielder – long considered a potential star in Fulham’s academy – got his opportunity after impressing during summer matches between Fulham’s senior side and the under 23s during pre-season training at Motspur Park.
“We played a few games against the first team and I did quite well. I then trained a few times with them. It just happened quite quickly. When I found out I was starting, I was very excited. A bit nervous, but it was good nerves because it kept me on my toes. I was shocked to play the whole game. But I thought I played well. I was assured on the ball, and showed the gaffer that I can handle it at that level.
He just said to me, literally before we went out on the pitch, to ‘just go and enjoy yourself. I’ve seen you play a few times you’ve got great ability, you deserve it, just have fun’. It’s nice when you hear that, when the manager has faith in you. He didn’t overcomplicate it too much for me and just let me play my football. I really enjoyed the experience, especially playing in front of the Fulham fans for the first time.
My target is to keep training in the first team more regularly and to get used to the environment, because it’s very different to being in the reserve team or the under-18s,” he says. “And to get used to the manager’s philosophy. Hopefully I can get more minutes and kick on, and get into the first team as soon as possible really. But I know have to stay patient, and keep working hard.”
