Max-Alain Gradel has revealed he could have joined Everton or Tottenham instead of Bournemouth last summer.
Gradel, 28, joined Bournemouth from St Etienne in a €10 million transfer but four games into his second spell at the club he ruptured his left anterior cruciate ligament against Leicester.
The Ivory Coast international praised Bournemouth for allowing him to carry out much of his recovery work in his homeland and predicted that he would be ready for a return to action by mid-February.
Gradel already knew Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe after spending the 2007-08 season on loan at the south coast club and said he had returned in spite of interest from Spurs and Everton.
"I wanted to come back to Bournemouth," he told L'Equipe. "Everyone wants to play in England but not everyone can. Even top players like [Andriy] Shevchenko or [Hernan] Crespo didn't make it there.
"When you leave for the Premier League, you have to be sure of your destination. That's why I wanted to return to Bournemouth."
The former Leeds winger was one of a host of imports from Ligue 1 in the close season. Notwithstanding notable exceptions like West Ham's Dimitri Payet, he is not surprised that they can have trouble finding their feet.
"Very few impose themselves straightaway," Gradel said. "Elsewhere your status, your salary, your transfer free -- all that is taken into account. In England it doesn't protect you from anything. By the time you realise that, it's too late.
"If you're good, you play. The coaches know you need time but don't make any concessions for you. That's why you should opt for more modest clubs to avoid giving yourself a handicap on arrival."
Gradel said he enjoys the more "spectacular" nature of football in England and stressed that it is a very different experience to Ligue 1.
"In France, football is a pastime," he added. "In England, it's a religion. People go to the stadium as if they were going to a mosque or a church.
"At the age of six, a kid is already singing the club songs because it belongs to his club."