Joe Bryan has set the record straight about how he came within 15 minutes of signing for Aston Villa before making his deadline day move to Fulham.
Left-back Bryan was at the centre of one of the stories of final day of the transfer window when Fulham hijacked his proposed move to Villa to bring him to Craven Cottage for £6m.
Following his last-ditch change of heart bizarre social media rumours emerged claiming that Bruce and Villa officials were in a car behind Bryan racing after him as he headed for Fulham hoping to try to salvage the deal.
But Bryan, 24, laughed: “I went to Aston Villa, I did the medical, I’d signed nothing. I hadn’t had any photos. I hadn’t had a steak dinner with Steve Bruce and he didn’t chase me down the motorway.
“I read a tweet that said I’d left him in the middle of a dinner after playing a round of golf with him. I don’t play golf and I don’t eat steak.
“I got a call that Fulham had an offer accepted while I was at Villa and I said ‘I want to play in the Premier League, I can’t turn down this opportunity.’
“This was after the medical had occurred. I hadn’t signed a contract or anything tying me to Villa. So I said to the manager [Steve Bruce] that I needed a couple of hours to think.
“Then we got back to the hotel and in my heart I knew I wanted to play in the Premier League. But I was probably 15, 20 minutes away from signing for Villa.”
Flying full-back Bryan has slotted in perfectly at Fulham, started all three Premier League games this season and helped the Londoners to their first three points in Sunday’s 4-2 win over Burnley.
Fulham’s biggest signing of the summer, £27m midfielder Jean Michael Seri, kickstarted the memorable victory against Burnley with a 30-yard wonder strike.
And Slavisa Jokanovic reckons the Ivory Coast midfielder is tailor made for Fulham too.
He said: “He surprised all of us with his goal. He is more a player we expect will make some assists.
“His characteristics work well for our style and he interpreted well how we want to play football well.
“He is one of the guys who is really comfortable in our possession of the ball. We want to attack with some passes behind the defence and he is the guy that can deliver these kind of passes.”