Fode Ballo-Toure has admitted his surprise at being able to seal a move to Fulham so late in the transfer window, claiming that he could not reject the opportunity.
It was well known from the beginning of the mercato that Milan wanted to offload Ballo-Toure given that he failed to convince as the deputy to Theo Hernandez when called upon, but despite several clubs being linked things dragged on into deadline day.
In the end, the 26-year-old Senegal international signed a season-long loan deal with Fulham and it was just completed in the nick of time before the window slammed shut in England.
Ballo-Toure spoke about his move to west London and gave some background on what happened during the summer months, with his comments relayed by the London Evening Standard.
“It’s a very big club, a historic club. It’s been very peculiar. I didn’t expect it, I thought I was going to stay at Milan,” he said.
“At the last minute, I got a phone call from my agent, who told me that Fulham wanted me. I didn’t hesitate. I said yes and it happened very fast.
“For me, you can’t turn down Fulham. I saw how they played last season and it was hard for me to turn them down. I hope [Fulham] do better than last season.”
Fulham finished 10th last season under Marco Silva and have aspirations to potentially finish even higher this season, so it is a good move for a player who had fallen out of favour at Milan.
I wish him all the best but its rather funny that he calls fulham a very big club. The biggest local trophies it has gotten is wining the championship 3 times and internationally one inter toto cup which never was a big trophy but i understand that ballo doesnt want to offend his new environment by speaking the truth,
I thought i read many reports in the middle of the summer that Milan and Fulham had agreed on a outright Ballo Toure transfer for 4-4.5 mil, but Ballo Toure refused to go there because he wanted to go to Werder Bremen or back to France?
Now this fool is saying you can’t turn down Fulham.
Is Ballo-Toure the first player in history to say “you can’t turn down Fulham”?
Must be ment, same Fulham he turned down at the beginning of the Transfer market… Dude robbed us of the one-time transfer fee. A soap-opera may occur if Fulham doesn’t permanent the deal
He will then say “you can’t turn down going back to Milan” lol
You cant turn down fulham ahahahaha
Correction: “You can’t turn down Fulham… if you’re me” FFS!
Good Luck
He said Yes when he discovered Milan had push him to one side. He was rejecting offers that comes his way.