Barcelona have been accused of messing up Nice star Jean Seri after his "dream move" to the Camp Nou broke down.

The Ivorian had been linked with a €40m switch but talks broke down with speculation that the Blaugrana's technical team were torn over the 26-year-old.

The player is thought to be devastated after seeing the transfer slip away and Les Aiglons' president Jean-Pierre Riviere has slammed the Catalan club for their behaviour.

"On Wednesday morning, Julien Fournier [Nice's managing director] called me early, at 9, and said, 'Jean-Pierre, I don't understand," Riviere told Canal+. "I just got a call from Barcelona, they told me they're stopping with Micka [Seri].

Seri was also linked with Arsenal and Liverpool (
Image:
Icon Sport)
The midfielder is in demand (
Image:
AFP)

"In the afternoon, I got hold of [Barca president] Josep Bartomeu, a little embarrassed, who told me: 'Jean-Pierre, it's the first time that this has happened to us, but our technical staff have decided not to do Micka Seri. It's absolutely not a problem of money.'

"On the Thursday morning, it was confirmed definitively: they won't be going for Micka Seri.

"And it's then that things go off. I said to Barca, 'You have messed up one of my players,' because there was a contract ready. I put myself in the place of Micka: it's his dream to go to Barca, and overnight it's broken."

Seri was unable to prevent Nice from exiting at the Champions League play-off round, losing to Napoli. He will return to action with Nice against Monaco this weekend, hoping to put the episode behind him.

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