West Ham’s transfer business is finally ramping up as the season gets under way. Relegation, a World Cup, a boardroom battle and possible hostile takeover have all served to put the brakes on the urgently required squad revamp, but with Nils Koppen at last earning his spurs through the Engels signing, there’s real momentum at London Stadium.
The acquisitions of Championship-ready players such as Solomon, Engels and Veltman have been well received, and most recently the news that Aaron Wan Bissaka looks to be Aston Villa-bound has fixed one of the ‘want-away’ challenges.
Hitherto, Jean Clair Todibo had looked a tougher ‘fix’.
News this weekend that he troublesome defender could be heading back to France with the latest claim from getfootballnewsfrance.com:
“Marseille reach agreement with West Ham’s Jean Clair Todibo”
However this being the French League there’ll not be the same amount of cash swilling around so any deal between the clubs is contingent on poor old Marseille selling players to raise the cash:
“However, nothing is yet certain for OM, who will need not only to reach an agreement with the Hammers to secure the Cayenne-born player, but also to free up funds through the sale of some of their own players.”
An agreement with West Ham cannot come soon enough. Todibo, with ‘that’ relegation clause halving his £80,000 a week is suddenly more affordable if not a more reliable option for several French sides who’ve bene reported as giving him the once over.
If you listen hard enough you’ll hear West Ham’s management silently cheering Marseille on as they fervently hope someone will take the troublesome Todibo off their hands. Doesn’t mean they’ll let him go at a bargain basement valuation though.
Fullkrug next? “Probably”.
I wonder if Marseille have any young promising players that we could take to reduce the overall cost of Todibo, Martin?