West Ham United defender Jean-Clair Todibo has impressed manager Graham Potter with his performances against Arsenal and Leicester City.
The French defender was unavailable through injury when Potter first took over the Hammers hot seat and has only been available for the past two games.
However, during that short period, Todibo has excelled in West Ham’s back-three formation and has started looking like the real deal.
Most Read on West Ham News
The former Barcelona centre-back was signed from French club Nice on a loan deal with an obligation to buy for £30m. Todibo had been courted by Manchester United, who were unable to sign him due to Sir Jim Ratcliffe holding shares in both Nice and Man United.
That allowed the Hammers to swoop in ahead of Juventus and sign the 25-year-old under the instruction of former Irons director of football Tim Steidten. Unfortunately for Todibo, his first season at the London Stadium has been interrupted by injury and a falling out with former gaffer Julen Lopetegui, which saw him training with the U21s.
As a result, there had been suggestions that West Ham could sell Todibo to Manchester United in the summer to raise much-needed transfer funds. However, West Ham may well have other ideas. When Claret & Hugh spoke to a top club source today, we were informed that the club had every intention of keeping Todibo.
“Yes, the manager likes him, but we’ll learn more over the next 11 games.”
Our top London Stadium insider finished by saying: “We’re playing with three centre-backs now. Tim [Steidten] told us that Todibo was the best young defender in Europe when we signed him.”