Barcelona Transfer News: Nice Manager Responds to Jean Michael Seri Rumours

Nice manager Lucien Favre has rubbished rumours Jean Michael Seri could leave the club for Barcelona this summer, telling reporters the Ligue 1 side are done selling players.

As reported by Le 10 Sport (h/t Daily Express' Joe Short), the Catalans, Roma and Paris Saint-Germain have all been linked with Seri, who was one of the key players behind Nice's shockingly good Ligue 1 season in 2016-17.

His breakout campaign led to plenty of speculation, but per Favre, he's not going anywhere:

"Seri? He stays, that's definitive.

"We've lost four starting players. That's enough. It's not easy to replace them."

Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

Per the report, Paul Baysse, Ricardo Pereira, Anastasios Donis and Younes Belhanda have already left the club this summer, with the first moving to Malaga and the others returning to their parent clubs as their loan deals expired.

Nice finished last year's Ligue 1 campaign in third place ahead of Lyon and will battle it out for a UEFA Champions League ticket in qualifiers. In order to reach Europe's top club competition and have success once they get there, they'll need their top players.

As you can see in the video below, Seri is part of that group:

The Ivorian scored seven goals and added nine assists in Ligue 1 last season while completing just under 90 percent of his passes, per WhoScored.com. He also held his own defensively, although he mainly stood out for his attacking contributions.

TalkSport's Ben McAleer took a look at the player recently and came away impressed:

"The Ivory Coast international is now wanted by a host of elite teams in Europe and it's little surprise that interest is high. Four of the top five most prolific passers in Ligue 1 last season play for PSG, with Seri the player denying the former champions a full house, with an average of 83.4 passes per game bettered only by Thiago Motta (91.5) and another player linked with Barcelona, Marco Verratti (87.5). His excellent ball retention qualities meant Nice finished third in France's top tier last term and ensured Lucien Favre's side had their fair share of possession over the campaign."

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/Getty Images

The 25-year-old would likely be a backup at Barcelona, who already boast tremendous quality in midfield and are interested in adding PSG's Marco Verratti, per Short. Seri would be a fine backup plan in case the Italian proved unattainable.

But Favre and his side may prove unwilling to cooperate after an impressive season, knowing full well the club may not have many more chances to impress in the UEFA Champions League. Perhaps inspired by the example of Leicester City, they too will try to keep as may key players as possible for one magical run in Europe.