Paris Saint-Germain have been accused of attempting to force up the price for Nice’s Jean Michaël Seri after Barcelona pulled out of the race to sign the Ivory Coast midfielder.

Seri, who has also been tracked by several Premier League clubs this summer including Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham, had been expected to complete a €40m (£36m) move to the Camp Nou this week after his representatives agreed a four-year contract with Barça officials. The only sticking point was the structure of the fee, which was dictated by a agreement in the 26-year-old’s contract that stipulated he would be allowed to leave for a fixed price, with Barcelona initially offering to pay €30m up front and the rest in add-ons.

However, with relations between Barcelona and PSG continuing to worsen after first falling out over the proposed transfer of Marco Verratti and then Neymar’s world record £198m move to the French capital, Seri’s agent Franklin Mala appeared on Catalan radio on Wednesday night to explain why his client’s dream move had fallen through.

“It was possible to reach an agreement as Barcelona and Nice were negotiating,” he told RAC1. “On Tuesday, they were in France, talking about technical aspects but they already knew Seri’s capabilities. PSG came three days ago. Now PSG is putting pressure on the club to take the player, it’s crazy. They just want to do it to fuck Barça.”

It is understood that while Seri’s agreement allowed him to join a club outside France for €40m, that did not apply for any domestic move and PSG therefore decided to offer substantially more. In response, Nice informed Barcelona that their asking price had now increased to €50m, causing them to withdraw their interest on Wednesday.

With just a week to go until the transfer window closes, Ernesto Valverde’s side have so far only invested €40m of the funds they received for Neymar in purchasing Brazil midfielder Paulinho. A fourth bid for Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho has so far yet to materialise, while reports in France have linked them with both PSG’s Ángel Di María and Willian of Chelsea.

It is understood that Ousmane Dembélé remains the primary target, although Borussia Dortmund are refusing to budge from their valuation of €150m for the France forward, having already rejected a bid worth more than €100m.