By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham’s long-running Jean-Clair Todibo problem may finally be moving towards a solution, with Premier League and Serie A clubs now competing for the £35m defender.
After spending most of the summer struggling to find a permanent buyer, the Hammers suddenly appear to have two genuine routes out for a player who has no future under Nuno Espírito Santo.
Todibo has been out of favour at the London Stadium since the end of last season after refusing to play in the Premier League finale against Leeds United and vowing never to play for Nuno again.
Ligue 1 club Marseille have frequently been linked with a move for the twice-capped French defender, but as Claret & Hugh reported earlier this summer, they simply don’t have the money to offer anything better than a loan deal.
For obvious reasons, that has been deemed unacceptable by West Ham, with club sources informing us throughout the summer that the preference was for a permanent transfer.
Indeed, when we spoke directly to an agent involved in bringing Todibo to West Ham last month, we were told there had been loan enquiries but no solid permanent offer.
Todibo is unlikely to even make the West Ham bench again
Todibo Finally Has Some Options
That situation now appears to be changing.
Yesterday, C&H exclusively revealed that a Premier League club was in serious discussions over Todibo, with that team now believed to be Aston Villa.
But it has emerged within the past few hours that there is also interest from Italy for the former Nice defender, who almost moved to Juventus before eventually joining the Hammers.
Suddenly, West Ham have something they have lacked throughout most of this transfer window: competition for Todibo.
It would appear that the best the Hammers can realistically hope for at the moment is a loan with an obligation to buy.
Given the club’s previous reluctance to sanction a straightforward loan, that may well be deemed acceptable if all of Todibo’s wages are covered, a loan fee is included and the obligation offers West Ham a guaranteed route to eventually recovering some of their money.
West Ham Finally Have Some Leverage
West Ham paid around £35m to sign Todibo permanently from Nice, but there has been little prospect of recovering anything close to that amount this summer.
That is precisely why having more than one interested club matters.
After months in which potential buyers could effectively dictate the terms, West Ham may finally have a little leverage.
As things stand, it appears to be developing into a straight shootout between the Premier League and Serie A for the £35m signing from Nice.
Nobody at West Ham will pretend this has been a successful transfer.
Todibo’s relationship with Nuno is finished and the club now simply need to find the best possible way of limiting the financial damage.
But after spending most of the summer struggling to find anyone prepared to take him permanently, a little competition certainly won’t hurt.
Ridiculous what is going on at the moment.We have off loaded so many players 8 at least and counting and have barely got started on incomings to replace the relevant positions,The centre half partnership belongs in a circus and yet another player the manager has fallen out with is leaving.Common denominator here is Nuno.
100% agree
Its a f*****g joke we have 2 useless centre backs and we’re trying to get rid of a quality one.nuno blamed him for the Newcastle debacle last season when he was totally to blame himself stupid team selection and tactics i know which one i would get rid of.