West Ham will make the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo permanent this summer.West Ham will make the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo permanent this summer.
West Ham will make the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo permanent this summer. | Getty Images
The Nice defender will make his loan move to West Ham permanent this summer, as per terms set last summer.
West Ham defender Jean-Clair Todibo has shared a message to supporters following the end of the Premier League season and ahead of his permanent switch to the London Stadium this summer.
The 25-year-old has been a prominent figure for the club on loan this season. Todibo featured 27 times over the disappointing Premier League campaign and started all of the final eight league outings under Graham Potter.
The Frenchman had also been linked with a move to Manchester United last summer before making the temporary switch to the London Stadium. The Nice defender is a product of the Toulouse academy and broke into the first team in the south of France before making the move to Barcelona in 2019.
West Ham star pens message to supporters
West Ham beat the Red Devils to sign the player for Lopetegui and that loan deal came with the obligation to buy at the end of the 2024/25 season. The fee agreed with Nice is reported to be £36.3 million.
Todibo’s permanent switch was dependent on the club’s survival in the Premier League, which was confirmed at the end of April. West Ham and Nice will finalise the paperwork for that deal over the summer in what is a marquee signing for the club.
The defender played 90 minutes in the 3-1 win over Ipswich Town on the final day of the season, coming off in injury time, and took to social media platform Instagram after the match to share a short message with fans ahead of moving to London permanently. Todibo wrote: “Ending the season with a win always feels good. It might not be the position I was hoping for in my first year here, but we’ll come back even stronger next season. Huge thanks to everyone for the support!”
Graham Potter praise for upcoming summer transfer
While it was not Potter who was in charge of the club when the Todibo deal was agreed, the former Brighton and Chelsea manager has been positive about the player. Speaking earlier this year, he said:“I think it was a bit tough for him at the start, because he arrived late to pre-season and then had injury problems. There was quite a lot of change last summer, but overall it’s not been that easy for those players who have come in. But, I’ve really enjoyed working with JC. He’ll get better as he gets fitter and fitter, because he’s got some really high-level quality.”
That positive relationship clearly goes both ways too. Todibo gave an in-depth interview to the club website ahead of the meeting with Brighton in April and reflected on Potter’s impact on the team. He said: “Football is a sport of small details and it’s also a sport of mistakes. We did a lot of small mistakes and we conceded late goals against Southampton and Liverpool and in some games we have been way better, so there have been a lot of positives in the games that we had since the new manager came.
“The results are not there but, in the games, what we are doing and all this stuff, there’s been a lot of good things. I think if we stay with this manager and the staff with the same goal, there’s for sure a couple of details to modify, we should do a really big season next year.
“We’ve felt a lot of frustration, for sure, and we have to work more, but we are in a good way, I think. The key is to remain together because I think what we were doing at the beginning of the season [compared to] now, it’s way different.”
In other news, West Ham must wake up and use Premier League prize money to deliver Tottenham blow - opinion.
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