Seri coy over Barcelona talk

Nice (France) (AFP) – Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri was staying coy on talk of a big-money move to Barcelona amid reports he has already reached agreement on the terms of a contract with the Spanish giants.

The 26-year-old Ivory Coast international played for Nice in their 2-0 defeat to Napoli on Tuesday that saw them miss out on a place in the Champions League group stage as they lost their play-off tie 4-0 on aggregate.

“No it was not my last match for Nice. I will be at Amiens on Saturday,” said Seri, who sports daily L’Equipe reported had agreed a four-year deal with Barcelona over the weekend.

A transfer for up to 40 million euros ($47 million, £36.7 million) has been mooted as the Catalans desperately look to strengthen their squad with the proceeds of Neymar’s world record 222 million-euro move to Paris Saint-Germain.

But Nice have reportedly been reluctant to negotiate so far and Seri added: “I don’t know much about it. I said to everyone to leave me to concentrate on the Champions League and that after we would see if I stayed or went.”

Seri joined Nice in 2015 from the Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira and has been outstanding in the last two seasons as the French side have finished fourth and then third in Ligue 1.