Jean Michaël Seri: ‘You have to take risks or you are just a water carrier’

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!”.

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