Five players who wanted to leave their clubs this summer, but couldn't

#4. Jean-Michael Seri

Current Club: OGC Nice

Desired Destination: FC Barcelona

They call him the African Xavi, and when Xavi himself commented up on it, well the stars never looked brighter for Ivory Coast midfielder Jean-Michael Seri

"When I was told that a player from Nice was called the 'African Xavi', I followed him very closely," Xavi told Le Parisien. "I didn't know [Seri] and I was entranced"

"I'm not used to seeing such talent in midfield anymore. The short game, long game, tactical intelligence, long-range shooting, personality, organisation of the play... Madre mia!"

"He would do so well at Barca. He can play anywhere in the middle. He is fantastic. He has what they call the Barca DNA. No doubt."

Combine this effusive praise from Mr. Barcelona himself with the fact that Seri's release clause was a meager €40 million and add Nice's willingness to do business and Barcelona should have had themselves a proper midfielder by now.

Instead, the management apparently decided to turn him down - and now, they're stuck with Andre Gomes. How the Barcelona hierarchy came to this conclusion will remain a mystery.

As for Seri... ah! If you think this is just tabloid nonsense that the Ivorian has been devasted when his dream move to Barca fell through, well, hear it from the man himself:

“I won’t lie, this has seriously affected me. My dream was to play for Barcelona but that’s been taken away from me – and it feels terrible" - Seri

If ever there was a lose-lose deal, this is it.