Jean Michael Seri joined Fulham over the summer (Picture: Getty)

Jean Michael Seri has revealed why he joined Fulham this summer rather than Chelsea, Liverpool or Tottenham.

The Ivory Coast midfielder spent three productive years at Nice, with his performances in Ligue 1 attracting interest from a number of clubs.

He was close to joining Barcelona last summer but a move to the Nou Camp fell through.

While Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham were all interested in signing Seri, the 27-year-old has explained why he decided to sign for Fulham.


‘When I played for Pacos de Ferreira in Portugal, Nice came for me and they really came,’ Seri said. ‘Fulham wanted me the same way.



‘They said, “We want you, come to Fulham.” Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, they saw me but they didn’t say, “We want you.”

‘Because Fulham gave me this respect, although other clubs wanted me, I wanted to sign for Fulham.

Promoted Fulham have made a solid start to the new season (Picture: Getty)

‘Fulham said to my president, “We want Mica Seri, talk to him if he’s interested because we know Chelsea, Manchester want him and he almost signed for Barcelona but we are back in the Premier League.”

‘My president calls me, he says, “Fulham want you, do you want to go?” I say, “If they want me, they respect me.” The big clubs want me but Fulham show they want me.’

Seri has featured in all four of Fulham’s Premier League games this season and scored his first goal for the Cottagers in the 4-2 victory over Burnley last weekend.

Fulham looked on course for back-to-back wins as they led Brighton but Glenn Murray’s 84th-minute penalty secured the home side a point on Saturday.

Speaking after the draw, Fulham manager Slaviša Jokanović said: ‘We have mixed emotions.

‘We showed our quality and showed we can play against a solid team. But we made some sloppy mistakes today and paid the price.

‘I don’t want to be too disappointed. We need to look at the positives. This isn’t an easy place to play and we managed to get a point.’

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