Jamal Baptiste: West Ham, Guillain-Barre syndrome and setting the record straight

It was during pre-season that Jamal Baptiste knew something was not right with his body.

The 19-year-old has long been viewed as a serious prospect at West Ham United. Carlton Cole once compared him to Rio Ferdinand. He made his senior debut in 2021 when he was just 17. But, last summer, Baptiste was finding training sessions tougher than usual. In his own words, he’d run and feel like he was being “Held back by a sack of sand”.

He felt like he was “screaming” for help. Baptiste played the first game of the season for the under-21s and then made it clear he was in too much pain to keep going. In October, he finally sat in a consulting room ready to be examined by a doctor, courtesy of one man who made addressing his health a priority.

David Sullivan, West Ham’s majority shareholder, listened to Baptiste.

“He has helped me massively,” says Baptiste. “I had glandular fever which later developed into Guillain-Barre syndrome (a rare and serious condition that affects the nerves).

“It was a difficult time in my life. Sullivan let me see his private doctor and I can’t thank him enough for actually believing me that there was something wrong in the first place.

“He trusted me, and I thankfully found out I had an issue which needed to be sorted out. I thanked him big time because he’s the one who pushed for the tests. I saw his doctor four to five times in the space of a week.”

Baptiste, who will leave West Ham in the summer when his contract expires, has opened up on the toughest season of his career. He wants to spread awareness of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a condition that mainly affects the feet, hands and limbs, causing problems such as numbness, weakness and pain.

Over the course of 30 minutes, he also wants to set the record straight. There have been suggestions he’s been absent from the under-23s due to disciplinary reasons — and he wants to dismiss those.

Last summer, Baptiste had started pre-season hoping to impress David Moyes. He had the pedigree for it. The England Under-20 international made his first-team debut in the FA Cup win against Doncaster Rovers in 2021. In September 2019, at the age of 15, he became the second-youngest player to play for the under-23s behind Jayden Fevrier, now at Colchester United, when he featured in a 1-0 Premier League International Cup victory over Valencia B.

By February, Moyes said: “He’s had real problems. Problems I won’t discuss here — but real problems. He’s someone we really like as a boy, like as a player. He’s had difficult times and he’s not helped himself, I’ve got to say, partly as well.”

What Moyes is alluding to is problems with Baptiste’s timekeeping, something the youngster acknowledges.

“There were times where I’d be at training and I’m falling asleep in the physio’s room, but I’ve had a long sleep the day before,” Baptiste says. “People were thinking I was always going to bed late.

“I think that affected my timekeeping and occasionally turning up to training late. Maybe I should’ve dealt with that better by speaking to coaches or getting help earlier. I always hold myself accountable but there were times I’d wake up and think, ‘I’m not playing football. I’m not doing what I love. I don’t want to go training just to practically do nothing’.

“That wasn’t the way to think and, thankfully, I’ve got out of that mindset. I could’ve had eight hours of sleep, wake up to go to training and I’d still feel tired. Straight away, I knew the difference between me being tired and me physically not being able to play. I’d run and it felt like I was being held back by a sack of sand. I would try to do things I’d normally do and it wouldn’t come off. I just didn’t feel like me.

“The illness itself killed all of the good cells and germs in my body, so there was a lot of bacteria in my blood cells. So for my body to function, I had to rest and let it repair. There was nothing I could take to quicken the process. It was just time and recovery — and that was hard.

“It’s the longest I’ve gone without playing football and I didn’t know when I’d be able to return. I was determined to recover and get back to where I was.

“I feel like people held such a high standard towards me that they disregard that I’ve never been injured before, or had other setbacks. I was struggling to deal with the situation but when I got help from the right people, I was relieved.”

That help came after a difficult pre-season.

“Drills that I’d normally find comfortable were a lot tougher and I struggled with completing them,” he says. “I finished the previous season on a high and I was pretty fit. Initially, I didn’t think too much of it and I thought I’d be fine after a month or so. But after a few weeks, training became much harder. I wasn’t able to perform the way I usually perform.

“I spoke to the coaches and physios at the club about my situation. I didn’t want it to seem like I wasn’t trying as hard as the others. But some people at the club didn’t really take much notice of what I was saying.

“I was screaming for help in July in Scotland (where West Ham began their pre-season) and then we went to Portugal (with the under-21s). I didn’t know what it was but I knew there was an issue. I was disappointed that it took so long for things to change. I played the first game of the season against Arsenal (in Premier League 2 — Division 1) and after that’s when I told them I can’t play with this pain anymore.”

Baptiste had blood tests in October, which led to him finding out he had glandular fever. This was the first time he had a prolonged spell out of football.

Baptiste returned to light training in January. He worked alongside Ben Lonergan, the former academy head of physical performance, who helped him return to full fitness. The following month, he started the 2-1 defeat to Monaco for the under-21s. But that would be Baptiste’s last competitive appearance for the academy.

“I worked with Ben every day for three months, but a big problem with having the illness was me having pins and needles down the back of both my legs,” says Baptiste. “The first thing we worked on was finding that rhythm because I wasn’t able to do certain things — like hop on one leg. The illness affected all of the nerves in my body. My running style changed so I had to see a professional sprinting coach. He taught me how to run again.

“Before I wouldn’t think much about my mental health. I’ve always been a bubbly person but once I stopped playing, I had to find different activities. It was hard, football has been my life. I started to do knitting for a bit.

“It was hard trying not to be alone with my thoughts and still go and see my friends. One of the hardest things was talking to people about football when I wasn’t playing. It would remind me that I’m not doing something people know I can do. One thing I always thought was, ‘I can get over this illness and get back to my old self’. I didn’t want people to think, ‘He’s done’.

“Guillain-Barre syndrome is one of the worst things you can experience as an athlete. It’s not like you’ve broken your arm, or your leg where you have an expected timeframe to come back. With this, you don’t know how long it will be. When I first started feeling the way I did, I was told I need to get on with it and it was nothing serious. So at times, I even told myself there’s nothing wrong with me, maybe I’m not as good as I was. But going with my gut feeling has got me to a better place now.”

Baptiste is irritated that people believed his absence was due to disciplinary reasons, but he is grateful for the support he received from coaches at West Ham and is looking forward to the future.

“It was annoying seeing comments about my behaviour on social media and hearing it when I was going to games,” he says. “The fans didn’t know the full story. I think I’m misunderstood because of the way I am as a person, but that’s just life I guess. People sometimes think I don’t care about my career but I keep myself to myself. I hope this will teach people to be more understanding — you never know what someone is going through.

“When there was big hype on me when I was younger, I wanted to show people that, ‘Yeah, people are saying this for a reason’. It was frustrating that I knew what I wanted to do but my body wouldn’t allow me to do it.

“The biggest fear was not knowing if I would play again. I won’t take football for granted moving forward. My first game back was a big relief.

“Playing academy football from 15 to 19 is a long time. I’m ready for first-team football and to take the next step. I loved having the opportunity to play for West Ham; I’m a local lad and the club will always have a place in my heart. But I’m ready for the next step in my career and I feel like the best is yet to come.”

(Photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)