The Ivorian says he will stay bold at Fulham after a turbulent journey that started barefoot and nearly took him to Barcelona

Jean Michaël Seri has grown used to the comparisons and, when they have come, they have nearly always been complimentary. Back in his youth when he would venture across the capital to the Centre Cyrille Domoraud in Bingerville, a suburb on the eastern fringes of Abidjan, the coaches nicknamed him “Galla” after Marcelo Gallardo, the diminutive Argentinian playmaker who had swapped River Plate for Monaco and was imposing himself on Ligue 1.

Later, once Seri was making his own impression in France with Nice, observers would point to flashes of Marco Verratti in his style. Most flattering of all were the similarities Xavi spied of his own game in the Ivorian, qualities that had the Barcelona midfielder and World Cup winner “entranced, madre mia!”.

Fulham’s Denis Odoi: ‘At 16 they told me I wouldn’t become a footballer’ Read more

Those reminders bring a smile to Seri’s face even now, the compliments a reward for the boldness of his approach. “As a player, if you’re not willing to try things on the ball, you’ll never fulfil your true potential,” he says. “You have to give things a go and take calculated risks: not things that put your team in danger but passes forward to surprise your opponents.

“Otherwise you are just a water carrier. It’s not always about a simple pass. Sometimes it’s about being daring. Since I’ve been young, I’ve always had that desire, to look forward and test myself. It is an attitude.”

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

That positivity has been reflected in a journey that has taken him from playing barefoot on the streets of his homeland to confronting Arsenal with Fulham on Sunday, via eye-catching spells in Portugal and on the Côte d’Azur. These days they simply call the 27-year-old “Mica” down at Craven Cottage, where the £25m signing is forging his own reputation in the Premier League.

Seri’s passage to this point, with the possible exception of his last year at Nice, has been all about progression. Back in Yopougon, the most populous suburb of Abidjan, he started playing football young. “They’d encourage us to play barefoot on the baked clay to learn how to control the ball, to feel it and have good technique,” he says of life in Ivory Coast’s capital. “It’s the best way. You’d work up to playing in boots but I definitely feel the benefits now. As a smaller player I had to find ways to play with the bigger boys. It wasn’t about strength. It was about being more intelligent. I’d have to read the game quicker, react quicker, move the ball quicker to win duels.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jean Michaël Seri is thriving at Fulham six years after he was named the Ivory Coast league’s best player having moved between the country’s two biggest teams. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Africa Sports d’Abidjan gave him a senior debut at 16 before Seri defected to their city rivals Asec Mimosas to play in the African Champions League. “They’re the two biggest clubs in Ivory Coast so that really wasn’t the done thing. It meant there was pressure on me at l’Asec, but it was a step up.”

He thrived at the most decorated club in Ivory Coast, where the Touré brothers and Salomon Kalou had leapt to prominence, and was named the league’s best player in 2012. From the moment he earned selection to the national senior squad for the first time that year European clubs were alerted to his burgeoning talent.

A week-long trial at Porto earned him a short-term contract, training alongside players such as James Rodríguez and João Moutinho with the seniors but turning out only for the B side. Neighbouring Paços de Ferreira, who had just finished third in the league, offered him greater first-team involvement and Seri, now surveying the game as a deeper-lying midfielder, excelled under the stewardship of Paulo Fonseca.

“Porto had been an education but Fonseca taught me to feel football, to live and breathe it. You’d know what you had to do out on the pitch before the ball arrived. I was at the heart of the team, touching the ball so many times. Fonseca is showing his quality now with Shakhtar Donetsk. I have much to thank him for.”

In Abidjan, we would play barefoot on the baked clay. It helps you feel the ball and have good technique

Nice ended up paying a bargain £500,000 to take him to France where Claude Puel would also build his team around Seri’s dynamism, drive and delivery. It was in Ligue 1, where Les Aiglons punched above their weight to finish fourth and third in the Ivorian’s first two years at the club, where the comparisons with Xavi were drawn. Seri, the team’s fulcrum, idolised the Spaniard. While Borussia Dortmund and Marseille made approaches, he merely pined for Barcelona.

That opportunity appeared to present itself in the summer of 2017, with the Catalans apparently prepared to trigger a £35.4m clause in his contract and personal terms settled. A delegation from the Spanish club attended Nice’s 2-0 home defeat by Napoli in the Champions League qualifiers. He was assured the transfer was on course. Yet the next day the deal was off with the clubs suddenly unable to agree a fee. Paulinho, plucked from Chinese football, filled the void in Barça’s midfield instead.

The disappointment was crippling. Seri was excused a game at Amiens as he came to terms with the deflation. “It affected me,” he says. “It all came down to money. But what can you do? Life goes on. Maybe it was God’s will. I am Christian, I have my faith and, just as God gave me the opportunity to go to Portugal, maybe it was my destiny to come here, to England, rather than Spain.

“I came back into the side for a league game against Monaco and wanted to put in a big performance, to show I was strong and had turned the page. We won 4-0 and, with the help of my teammates, I showed it would not knock me off course. That last season at Nice was disappointing, so the time felt right to leave. Fulham, like Nice, sold themselves to me: because of the way they play football and their coach’s philosophy, their ambition and where I’d fit in. It’s a club who give me everything, so I must repay them.”

Fulham v Arsenal: match preview Read more

First impressions have been favourable. Bigger teams, from Chelsea to Sunday’s opponents, Arsenal, had been credited with interest but Fulham feel the right fit. He has settled in the city with his family, is one of the team’s two ever-presents in the top-flight campaign and has excelled, battering a fine goal from distance with only his second shot in English football to help spark the team’s first win back in the elite.

“People talk about the Premier League and its intensity, its physicality,” Seri says. “If you’re not ready, you’ll fail. It’s a championship which demands effort and sacrifices in your everyday life, so you cannot let standards slip. Each training session is like a match. Survival is our objective, to stay in the Premier League where players grow and improve. A game against Arsenal is an opportunity, just like a match against Brighton, Burnley or Watford.” This is a player who shares his club’s bold outlook.