Former Fulham boss Rene Meulensteen believes Fulham have pulled off one of the deals of the summer by signing Jean-Michael Seri.

The Whites broke their transfer record to bring the Ivorian international midfielder, who was close to joining Barcelona a year ago, to the Premier League from Nice and Meulensteen waxed lyrical about his qualities on BBC Radio 5 Live last night. The Dutch coach, who spent just 75 days at Craven Cottage in their last season in the top flight, told Five Live Sport:

I tell you what, Jean-Michael Seri … an absolute steal, in my opinion. He is a top six, if not a top three player. He reminds me of Clarence Seedorf – he’s got that guile and moves the ball – and Fulham’s got him. Fantastic.

Meulensteen was also full of praise for the achievements of Serbian head coach Slavisa Jokanovic both in guiding the Londoners back to the top flight and impressing upon the club’s ownership the importance of investing big prior to their return.

Jokanovic has been brilliant. What he’s done – he’s gone in and said, ‘Listen if you want to stay in here [the Premier League], we need to make sure we’re covered in all positions and you’re going to give us the best possible chance’. But looking at what they’ve spent and bring Schurrle in as well and now Chambers on loan, they’ve got some good players already, play some good football, so yeah, looking forward to it.