Report: Nice Star Jean Michael Seri Agrees to 4-Year Deal With Barcelona

Jean Michael Seri has agreed a four-year deal with Barcelona ahead of the start of negotiations between the Catalan club and Nice.

Jean Michael Seri has agreed a four-year deal with Barcelona ahead of the start of negotiations between the Catalan club and Nice, L'Equipe have reported.

A fee has not yet been decided for the Ivorian midfielder, although a transfer of around €40m is expected to be completed this week.

Nice are reportedly hopeful of keeping Seri until after the second leg of their Champions League qualifier against Napoli on Tuesday, although he could be presented as a Barcelona player later this week.

The 26-year-old has also attracted interest from Premier League clubs Arsenal and Liverpool having excelled for the Ligue 1's third placed side last season, but has made clear his preference of a move to Catalonia.

His expected move to Barcelona will mean that the club have spent just over a third of the world record €222m fee they received from Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar.

Paulinho arrived in a contentious transfer from Guangzhou Evergrande last week for €40m to bolster Barcelona's midfield options, and Seri now looks set to follow.

Jean-Michaël Seri est OK avec le Barça pour un contrat de 4 ans. Les négociations avec Nice devraient intervenir à compter d'aujourd'hui. pic.twitter.com/XugsbbTKQt

— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) August 21, 2017

The Blaugrana have made it a priority to strengthen their midfield after their heavy 5-1 defeat over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid.

Barcelona are still believed to be weighing up another offer for Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho, despite setting a deadline of Sunday for their latest bid to be accepted.

Liverpool remain adamant that the Brazilian will not be sold, so Barcelona could now focus their efforts in bringing in Borussia Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele, expected to cost at least €130m.

Returning to the Seri transfer, there were conflicting reports that his release clause had perhaps expired and it would therefore cost more than the reported €40m to land him - but as the above tweet claims, his entourage have confirmed that the release clause hasn't expired yet, and therefore, if Barça paid €40m, Seri can join the Catalan giants for said fee.