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According to The Sun, Chelsea are set to go up against Manchester City and PSG for Nice midfielder Jean-Mari Seri.
The Ivory Coast star is regarded as one of the brightest midfield talents in Europe, and was on the verge of joining Barcelona in the summer, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute.
Nice want to keep a player who was instrumental in getting them into the Champions League this season, but with a buy-out clause of only £35 million, they will struggle to hold onto him during the current window.
PSG are amongst the club’s interested in signing him, but Seri prefers a move to the Premier League, and the Paris club, anyway, are under pressure to sell players to comply with FPP (Financial Fair Play), not buy new ones.
Manchester City were thought to be favourites to capture Seri, with manager Pep Guardiola eyeing a replacement for Yaya Toure, who is out of contract in the summer and expected to leave the club.
However, now Chelsea may be ready to enter the race for Seri, with manager Antonio Conte keen to further strengthen his midfield options following the capture of Ross Barkley from Everton, amidst doubts over the long-term future at Stamford Bridge of Tiemoue Bakayoko, who the Blues signed from Monaco in the summer.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.