Sevilla star Lucas Ocampos has explained why he decided to stay at the club this summer and turn down the chance to join Fulham.
The winger has been speaking to El Desmarque following a summer full of speculation about his future at the Spanish side.
Ocampos looked very likely to leave Sevilla this summer as they planned a complete rebuild under new director of football Victor Orta.
The Argentine was one of those who they had looked at moving on to both raise much needed funds and balance the books.
Fulham were keen on him and at one point it looked like a deal was going to happen, with talks between the two clubs seemingly going well and Marco Silva’s side offering serious money to the player to convince him.
El Desmarque back this up, saying Fulham were ‘betting heavily on him’ and Sevilla were open to the sale at the same time.
That never happened, though, with the player remaining where he was and Fulham instead turning their attention elsewhere.
He’s now explained why that was the case, revealing that the truth is that he didn’t really want to leave a club he’s been at since 2019.
“Good. They were intense, but hey, here we are, which is the important thing,” he said.
“If I’m honest, I didn’t really want to leave, neither I nor my family. That’s why we decided to stay, to continue prioritising our lives, prioritising the club.
“Above all, when you win things in this club, and you have such affinity, a sense of belonging, not being a youth player, not being from Seville, not even being Spanish.
“When you find a place, you have to take advantage of it, and I want to continue doing things with this team. I don’t want to just keep what I won, I want them to remember me tomorrow and that’s what I’m looking for.”
