Nice president Jean-Pierre Riviere insists Barcelona didn't want Jean Michael Seri.

Riviere asserts that a €40 million fee was agreed between the two teams before the LaLiga outfit pulled the plug.

"Julien Fournier, the general manager of [Nice], called me early on Wednesday [August 23], at about 09:00 and said: Jean-Pierre, I do not understand, I received a call from Barcelona and they told me to stop the Seri transfer," Riviere recalled on Canal+.

"In the afternoon, Bartomeu called me, a little embarrassed, and said to me: 'This is the first time that it has happened to us. Our staff have decided not to sign Seri, but it is not a financial issue'."

The Nice chief has sympathies with the player, as he acknowledged that it was Seri's desire to move to Barcelona during the transfer window.

"I put myself in his shoes; it was his dream to go to Barcelona and then it was broken. It was all up in the air," Riviere said.