Barcelona's Marlon seals two-year Nice loan

Barcelona defender Marlon Santos has joined Nice on a two-year loan deal.

The Catalans have allowed the Brazilian to join the Ligue 1 side until 2019 but have the option of bringing him back to Camp Nou at the end of this season.

Marilon, 21, made his first-team breakthrough under Luis Enrique last season with a pair of LaLiga starts and a substitute appearance in the Champions League.

He was excused from training in order to finalise his move to the Ligue 1 club on Tuesday.

Lucien Favre's side finished third last season but have struggled to find form in 2017-18, losing 4-0 to Napoli on aggregate in the Champions League play-off before suffering a 3-0 loss at Amiens on Saturday.