Fulham are said to have come the closest to signing Real Betis midfielder William Carvalho on deadline day, as per a recent report by Spanish publication ABC Sevilla.

It is said that the La Liga club were very eager to offload the 29-year-old this summer in a bid for them to free up transfer funds in order to bring in players of their own.

In the end the Portuguese international ended up staying put at the Estadio Benito Villamarín, with the report going on to state that Fulham went the furthest towards getting a deal done for the midfielder as a loan deal with an option to buy was seemingly agreed between the two clubs.

However it has been revealed that the player himself turned down the opportunity to move to Craven Cottage, which means that he will now stay in Seville until the January transfer window at the very earliest.

Betis are said to have tried everything to get the player off their books but to no avail.

Carvalho still has two years remaining on his current contract with the Spanish club at present.

The Verdict 

Fulham will be glad that this fiasco ended in the manner it did as the player himself clearly didn't even fancy a move to West London in the first place.

It is a shame however that they were unable to bring in a player who has great pedigree at both club and international level, as Carvalho could have taken the Sky Bet Championship by storm.

Ultimately it wasn't to be and overall the main feeling coming out of Fulham is that they are very satisfied with the business that they conducted this summer.

If the likes of Harry Wilson can continue to perform to a high level, they will certainly have a great chance of getting promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.