Three and a half years after his arrival in Nice, Jean-Clair Todibo has become one, if not the best defender in Ligue 1. A rise which owes nothing to chance and which is the fruit of enormous work on and off the field. Whether in terms of aerial duels, in the propensity to bring out the ball cleanly, or on his intrinsic qualities as a defender make the former Barcelona player the pillar of the best defense in Ligue 1 with only 9 goals conceded in 17 matches and a series of several consecutive clean sheets.
Long followed by the elite of European football, but long considered a second or even a third choice for certain clubs, notably last summer, the defensive rock from the Riviera has enjoyed a new status in recent months, helped by his first caps in the French team. And inevitably all this is starting to agitate a few clubs which have made the new international tricolor a target of choice. The only problem is that in the Riviera club’s plans, a departure this winter is absolutely not planned. If he intends to offer him an exit voucher next summer, Florent Ghisolfi is counting on the pillar of his defense and is already turning a deaf ear to the first approaches concerning his defensive rock.
Tottenham makes a concrete approach for Todibo… but Nice procrastinates
But will he be able to do so in view of the interested clubs and the means they are capable of implementing to achieve their ends? Because the clubs seduced in the Champions League category, which can be counted on the finger of one hand, are already lurking in the shadows. Well, for one in particular this is no longer the case. As revealed several days ago, Tottenham approached the player in a very concrete way and pulled out all the stops to convince Todibo to join Spurs this winter, even if the Nice delay does not facilitate exchanges.
On the program, sporting guarantees and the prospect of joining a club currently 4th in the Premier League and which counts in Ange Postecoglou one of the most prominent coaches of the moment are all assets which necessarily give the Nice defender pause. But Spurs do not have time to wait and want to close a defender quickly, because with the injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, the London club wants to complete the operation quickly. If they are about to fall back on the young and promising Romanian defender of Genoa Radu Dragusin, they have not yet said their last word for Todibo.
Manchester United and Chelsea ready to step into the breach
Two other clubs are also ready to step into the breach. The first is a regular on the French market, namely Chelsea who has been in the news in recent days according to our information. The Blues are not satisfied with their defender and are ready to once again take out the checkbook. As for Manchester United, it has not said its last word and continues to send recruiters to observe the French international during matches at the Gym. But the Mancunian club which has been following the player for many months is in a complicated sporting situation.
The fact remains that the very recent rapprochement between Jim Radcliffe, Ineos and the Red Devils makes a transfer of Jean-Clair Todibo something logical and coherent for Ineos, but not for next summer. Until then, it will be necessary to gauge the results of the palace revolution which is currently underway at Manchester United… However, the concrete arrival of Ineos among the Red Devils could give, in the very short term, a new sporting dynamic at MU. Enough to send number 6 to Manchester this winter? Hard to say. Whatever happens and until proven otherwise, Jean-Clair Todibo is still indeed in Nice on January 1st. But the winter transfer window promises to be long and will last forever for the Gym…
