No fears for Favre on Seri´s motivation after Barca blow

Nice head coach Lucien Favre has no concerns over Jean Michael Seri’s mindset as the midfielder comes to terms with his failed move to Barcelona.

Seri seemed set for a €40million switch to Camp Nou last month before the Catalan giants pulled the plug on the deal.

The Ivory Coast international initially blamed Nice for the transfer falling through, although the club’s president Jean-Pierre Rivere revealed his counterpart at Barca, Josep Maria Bartomeu, had called him to express his embarrassment at having to call off the move.

Seri played no part in Nice’s last outing, a 3-0 loss at Amiens, although he did start both of his country’s World Cup qualifiers over the international break, and Favre has rejected the notion the 26-year-old will return under a cloud of discontent.

“I’m not worried too much about that,” Favre said ahead of Saturday’s Derby de la Cote d’Azur at home to Ligue 1 champions Monaco.

“I have not seen him since his departure with Ivory Coast. He should be here today [Thursday]. We’ll see.

“He played two matches, in Gabon, he travelled a lot. We will see his physical state, his freshness.

“But the rest, in the long term, he will come back. He will continue to show his qualities, as he did against Guingamp. He was almost there in all good situations.”