The appeal court in Aix-en-Provence decided on Friday to keep Nice defender Souleymane Diawara behind bars for attempted extortion.

The 36-year-old Senegalese, a former French title winner with Bordeaux and Marseille, was taken into custody on April 10, suspected of trying to take the law into his own hands by attempting to recover 50,000 euros from a car dealer who had sold him a stolen Porsche.

According to police sources, Diawara bought the Porsche Cayenne for 50,000 euros in cash, but discovering it was stolen, he and the four others, including his brother Adama, visited the seller's home in the middle of the night on March 19.

They are alleged to have threatened the man, whose wife and two children were also present, but no weapons were used and no-one was hurt in the altercation.

The 36-year-old seller claimed Adama Diawara and another person, named just as Karim, cornered him in his kitchen.

The appeals court decided to keep all five men in jail, according to the lawyer representing one of them.

"It's a huge disappointment," complained Alain Baduel, Adama Diawara's lawyer, to AFP.

On Thursday the pubic prosecutor had asked the appeals court to keep all five men in custody over fears they might abscond or seek retribution.