As the final whistle blew at Wembley Stadium in June 2018, Fulham's stay in the Championship officially came to an end.

Tom Cairney's cool first-half strike had proven enough to beat Aston Villa 1-0 in the play-off final, sending Slavisa Jokanovic's side back to the top-flight.

What's more, they looked like a side who were going there to stay. The South West Londoner's arrived with an exciting, young squad at their disposal and one who played football in a progressive manner that would, in theory, thrive in their new home.

However, an exciteable board, suddenly swamped with enormous riches, ended up hindering the Whites in a way that stunted the seemingly inevitable progress of Jokanovic's unit.

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Huge fees were splashed on stars as yet unproven in the top-flight including Andre Anguissa, Joe Bryan, Fabri and Maxime Le Marchand, with the likes of Luciano Vietto, Timothy Fosuh-Mensah and Sergio Rico all joining on loan as well.

It completely interupted the rhythm that they had worked so hard to build and led to their top-flight downfall.

This summer saw all but two of those stars leave Craven Cottage. Bryan is now thriving whilst Le Marchand continues to offer back-up to Tim Ream and Alfie Mawson.

Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri was the supposed jewell in the transfer crown from that 2018 shopping spree, brought in for £25 million and smashing the club's transfer record in the process.

However, after a season which saw him score once and assist just three more, he was deemed surplus to requirements by Scott Parker in the latest summer transfer window - shipped out on loan to Galatasaray.

But it seems the Turkish giants are equally unimpressed with the Ivorian, with Sport Witness reporting that the club are ready to send him back to Fulham in January, in order to free up some space on their roster for another foreign player - who are capped in the Super Lig.

This is a situation that Fulham must avoid.

Parker's side are yet to fully click this season, hence why they are sat in eighth place rather than in the automatic promotion places, but there is huge promise there.

Whilst additions in January may help, bringing Seri back into the fold will only serve to act as a hinderance amid a midfield unit which is slowly beginning to click.

In their boss' preferred 4-3-3 formation, the trio of Cairney, Harry Arter and Stefan Johansen regularly impress, with the balance between beauty, brains and braun nicely balanced.

Therefore, even if Galatasaray do opt to cut Seri's loan short, the best decision would be to send him back out on loan again or, ideally, sell him permanently.

Doing anything else would only risk making the same mistake they made upon their return to the Premier League.