Opinion: Fulham should commit to contract gamble regarding 30-year-old international player

Barring a major collapse in results, Fulham will be a Premier League team once more next season – and it’s to be expected.

The Cottagers kept the majority of their relegated team together and with Marco Silva coming in to replace Scott Parker in the dugout, they had a head coach in place who had worked in the top flight of many countries.

Of course it helps when you’re able to keep hold of the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic and then sign a player of Harry Wilson’s calibre, but the whole team have been professional for the most part – we’ve often seen so-called big teams slip up when they’ve been relegated back to the second tier.

Fulham’s wage bill probably trumps everyones in the Championship and that’s because they still have a number of players on the books from their Premier League days – including Jean Michael Seri.

The West London club caused a stir in the summer of 2018 when they were able to recruit the Ivory Coast international from French side OGC Nice – a year prior he almost secured a move to Barcelona such was the level of his talent.

Fulham paid the best part of £25 million for Seri if you believe reports, but his debut season at Craven Cottage saw him play 32 times in a team that were ultimately relegated to the Championship.

Seri wasn’t sticking around though to play second tier football and ended up signing on loan for Galatasaray in the 2019-20 season, but when they didn’t take the option to sign him permanently, the midfielder returned to Fulham for 2020-21 – only to not be included in their Premier League squad.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Seri’s Fulham career would be over after that, especially when he went out on loan to Bordeaux in the second half of last season, but with Silva’s summer