Danny Williams signs with Pafos FC

Pafos FC of Cyprus announced the signing this weekend of Danny Williams on a free transfer. The American midfielder spent the previous two seasons with Huddersfield Town in the English Premier League. He made 30 appearances across all competitions while dealing with injury issues, playing in a mere six matches in 2018-2019, before being released following the club’s relegation. Williams was also linked with moves to 2. Bundesliga club SV Darmstadt and D.C. United in MLS.

Pafos was created in 2014, with stadium sharing clubs AEK Kouklia and AEP Paphos merging into one. The club finished in eighth place in the Cypriot First Division last season, narrowly escaping relegation by three points. Pafos’ next match, and Williams’ potential debut, is on Saturday, September 14th against Apollon Limassol.

This move likely signifies the end of Williams’ dormant international career. He’s on the wrong side of 30 and hasn’t appeared with the national team since a friendly in November of 2017, where he captained the squad against Portugal. The native of Karlsruhe, Germany earned 23 caps and scored two goals after receiving his passport in 2011.

Williams has been outspoken about perceiving himself to be an outsider, including making attention grabbing comments to NBC Sports regarding the selection of domestically based players. He told FourFourTwo that his one-match captaincy “must have been the proudest moment of [his] entire [career],” which will only increase his what-might-have-been status. Despite Williams’ tenure in the Bundesliga, Championship, and Premier League, he was never able to break through and become a regular with the national team, much to the frustration of many pundits and fans who believed he could have been a key cog in the midfield during the failed 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.