Jean Michael Seri has revealed the reason why he rejected summer moves to Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham in favour of signing for Fulham.
The Ivory Coast midfielder had attracted interest from a number of high-profile clubs after an impressive three-year spell at Nice, but raised eyebrows when he decided to join Fulham in a £25million deal.
Seri's performances for the Ligue 1 side had even caught the attention of Barcelona, who made a move to sign him 12 months prior to his eventual exit and were considering reviving their interest.
Despite being chased by some of the real powerhouses of Europe, there was only one place Seri wanted to go.
Seri told The Times: 'When I played for Pacos de Ferreira in Portugal, Nice came for me and they really came. 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.'
Seri, who scored his first goal for Fulham in stunning fashion during last week's 4-2 win over Burnley, added: 'Fulham said to my president, "We want 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 showed they wanted me.'