Chelsea defender Tomas Kalas has admitted he was desperate to sign for Fulham in the summer and was disappointed they decided against keeping him.
Kalas, now on loan at Bristol City, played a key role in helping Fulham win promotion to the Premier League while he was on loan with them last season.
But the Whites, who have struggled defensively in the top flight, did not pursue a deal to sign the Czech centre-back.
“If they’d wanted me at Fulham, I would have stayed, but they didn’t,” he told West London Sport.
“It was difficult to swallow. But obviously that’s not the end of my career, and I’d rather get promoted with a team that wants me. It would be quite nice to settle down after eight years of being abroad, but not spending longer than two years at one place.
“I obviously wanted to stay there, because that would be a step forward in my career and I would have been in a club that I’ve spent two years with.
“But I wasn’t getting my hopes up too high because exactly the same thing happened with Middlesbrough two years before. We got promoted and I loved the club and nothing happened afterwards.
“I was so loyal to Fulham. They knew I wanted to stay and nothing happened. They spent, I don’t know how much money, on new defenders.”