Club chief explains why player joined Fulham, talks about failed attempt to sign Chelsea player

Sevilla allowed their goalkeeper, Sergio Rico, to join Fulham on a season-long loan deal on deadline day of the transfer window.

The Spaniard conceded 59 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions for Los Rojiblancos last season, which includes 39 goals from 24 league appearances. His performance was not widely appreciated by the leaders of the La Liga outfit.

Sevilla director of football Joaquin Caparros has revealed all parties involved felt a temporary move to Fulham was the ‘best, hard loan’ for the club’s custodian and remains hopeful the 24-year-old can return to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán as a much better player.

“Last year was not Sergio’s best year. All the parties have decided that it was the best, a pure and hard loan and that next year on June 30th he can return,” Caparros told Cadena SER, as quoted by Estadio Deportivo.

Meanwhile, Sevilla were also interested in bringing Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi to the club. However, the Belgium international snubbed an opportunity to join them and signed for their league rivals Valencia because of the opportunity to play in the Champions League.

“Batshuayi decided to go to a team that was going to play Champions League, we made an offer to buy the footballer, but he wanted to play elsewhere,” the Sevilla director of football explained.