Cyrus Christie has lifted the lid on his exit from Middlesbrough on Deadline Day, believing the move to Fulham was best for his career.

The 25-year-old only spent six months at the Riverside Stadium but was dropped from the first team once new boss Tony Pulis came in, with Christie not fitting into the style of the play the former West Brom manager wanted the side playing.

A Deadline Day move to SW6 beckoned, and Christie, who made his debut in the 1-1 draw with Bristol City on Wednesday night, has revealed why he left the north east for London.

He said: "It come about a couple of days before the deadline, Middlesbrough were huming and ahing about what was going on.

“Tony Pulis was fine with me, he didn’t play me and come in and took me out, considering I’d played every game under Garry Monk and I was playing well.

“I obviously didn’t fit into the style of play he wanted to play, he was playing centre halves as full backs.

“For me, if you look throughout my career I’m a guy that likes to play, I’m closing on 300 appearances at the age of 25, it’s about playing and enjoying football.

“I wasn’t getting in the team there and wasn’t getting a chance, sometimes you didn’t even train with the starting XI which was quite bizarre and then he’d throw you in and you don’t know what he wants from a player, so that was obviously quite tough.

“It was a learning curve, that’s for sure, now I’ve left Middlesbrough, I enjoyed my six months there, of course you don’t want to go somewhere and then change straight away, but things happen, the opportunity at Fulham came around and it was one that I wanted to take.

Cyrus Christie scores against Fulham at the start of the season

“Middlesbrough wanted it to happen as well, they were bringing people in, so for me it’s a fantastic opportunity to come to a club like this and mount a promotion push.

“I’ve settled in well, all the lads are nice and the staff are really welcoming and everyone has made me feel welcome.

“It’s not too far from home for me, it’s a lot easier to get home than from Middlesbrough so I'm enjoying it, it’s been really good and I just need to find myself a place now rather than living in a hotel.

“I’ve settled in really well and it’s been fantastic.”

The Republic of Ireland international started at right back on Wednesday night, a position that has become his main place in the starting XI at club and country in recent years - but his signing has led people to believe he is a replacement for Ryan Fredericks, who has five months left on his deal at Fulham.

However, Christie has said that Slavisa Jokanovic has spoken to him about the prospect of playing further forward as a right winger, like he has before, as well as playing in the same XI as Fredericks, with Christie deployed in front of the right back.

He added: “I’ve played there before, the manager here has mentioned it to me as well, he’s mentioned centre half and left back too.

“I've played in all those positions over my career, I started as winger, he’s mentioned about me and Freddo playing on the same side and I think it will be good considering the attributes we both have but it’s up to the manager, I just have to keep training hard and impressing him and showing him what I’m capable of and regaining my match fitness.

“We can only go from strength to strength now as a team.”

An assist for Aleksandar Mitrovic's goal meant that Fulham made it 11 games unbeaten with a draw at Ashton Gate - game that Jokanovic described afterwards as being "a rugby match."

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It was certainly a battle - Fulham were under constant aerial bombardment from Bristol City but Christie believes the team dealt with the situation well.

“We fought well, we battled hard and ground out a result," he said.

“I think we got drawn into their style of play, which wasn’t ours, and we came away from the way we play and on another day we come out on top.

“We had a couple of chances there to put the game to bed and we let them back into the game, which was annoying, but at the end of the day we picked up a point against a top team that have been up there for the whole season.

“You look at some of the results they’ve had against the top teams like Manchester City and United and we knew we’d be in for a tough game and we’ve come away with a point, and we may look back on that and see it as a big point."

Cyrus Christie in action for the Republic of Ireland
Cyrus Christie in action for the Republic of Ireland

Since Seamus Coleman's horrible leg break against Wales in a World Cup qualifier in March 2017, Christie has been Martin O'Neill's right back at the Aviva Stadium.

However, the Republic of Ireland captain is now starting to play more regularly after recovering from that injury, and despite Christie believing Coleman will come straight back into the fold, he's been happy with his performances for his county.

He said: “It will be tough to keep a player of Seamus’ (Coleman) calibre out - he’s our captain so he will come back in.

“But the manager has spoken to many times about playing on the wide right, or left back or in different positions so it’s up to the manager to pick and I can only play my game and do as best as I can.

“I think when Seamus was out I came in and played really well and did myself proud.

“The World Cup play-off didn’t end how we wanted it to considering the position we got ourselves in, we let ourselves down but we left it all on the pitch and just fell at the final hurdle which was tough to take.

“I’m sure we’ll bounce back and go into the Euro qualification with our heads held high and we’ll look to get there again."

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