The focus on West Ham hijacking Juventus’s deal to sign Jean-Clair Todibo has overshadowed Manchester United’s significant role in this dramatic transfer saga.
Whilst West Ham were fending off the Italian giants, those at Old Trafford were left green with envy as the Hammers secured their top transfer target.
The centre-back position was a major priority for Man Utd this summer after a season that-much like the Hammers-exposed their defensive vulnerabilities.
With INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe at the helm, it was no surprise to see Man Utd intensify their pursuit of Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo. After all, Nice is also owned by Ratcliffe’s INEOS group.
However, a UEFA ruling blocked Man Utd from signing the 24-year-old France international. Clubs are allowed to sign and sell players to sister teams, but not if they’re competing in the same competition.
Both Man Utd and Nice will compete in the Europa League next season, making a Todibo transfer impossible.
Early this summer, transfer insider and ITK Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Man Utd had a deal for Todibo “99%” done before being informed they could not proceed.
“Jean-Clair Todibo was 99% a new Manchester United player,” Romano stated. “Everything was done, also on the player’s side, then everything collapsed because of UEFA rules.”
If the Old Trafford club truly believed the deal for Todibo was almost certain, they must be devastated to see the Hammers land their number one target. It would have been hard enough to watch the Frenchman move to Juventus, but at least he would have been far away in Italy.
One really has to pinch themselves to believe what West Ham has accomplished by signing a player who once had a £130M buyout clause at Barcelona and was considered one of Europe’s finest young defenders.
Outstanding work by West Ham.
Oh i hope this makes that lot choke on there cornflakes……being messed around with the AWB transfer i think this signing is a big kick in the plums for them and i have to Thank Tim for that
The release clauses in Spanish football can’t be trusted, they’re required to have a release clause for every player, so if they aren’t interested in selling they are often higher than what they would actually e worth.
You do realise that Nice is in France?
It has to do with his Barcelona release clause. 🙂
Sorry my bad!
Maybe wan bissaker is following the Harry Maguire playbook. Now we need to go and hijack Noussair Mazraoui signing to become the complete brickhouse stards of the transfer window.
Lol, luv it Billy 😁
Man Utd were probably the only team that was actually prohibited from buying Todibo.
We didn’t beat them to him, but did beat Juventus and maybe others who hadn’t yet declared an interest.
It’s a hell of a good signing whatever else it is. We are going to field a strong first eleven and have a strong bench at this rate. All we need to do is gel which is sometimes a bigger ask than you think.
west ham scared just about all interest in todibo by slapping on a 35m euro offer on him
the only club that didn’t cross him off their list at that price was an ambitious juve – they sold some top talent but not quite enough to get koopers and todibo
look at fofana, we’ve slapped a cool 35m euro on him too, our offer is pretty much accepted, milan have come to the realisation that they don’t have the cash to pursue him as well as their other targets and they’ve dropped off
and for all the recent reports man utd appear more interested in ugarte and berge
with tobido caving in, the other signings we have, the project – you have to ask yourself, perhaps fofana is looking at soucek and JWP and thinking – with me this team can really go places
interesting times gentlemen
Stroll on we are one or two players away from a monster team this season. If I were Wan- B I would want to sign up quick!
Oh for the days of Avram.(Not)
Bets so Far
£5 on each Cup Comp we are in
£5 each league position 4-7 th
Oh for the days of Avram.(Not) Nor Moyes (Bless Him)
Bets so Far
£5 on each Cup Comp we are in
£5 each league position 4-7 th
Let’s pursue fofana from Monaco now ac Milan have pulled out and man utd are pursuing sande berg from burnley. Fofana is a top player like todibo and is exactly what we need to dominate games and set the tempo!!!