· 2 June 2025, 10:00
**There was a big feeling last summer that Newcastle United's transfer strategy was "Marc Guehi or nobody", and that's pretty much how things panned out if you exclude the free arrival of Lloyd Kelly and the £15m spent on Will Osula.**
Neither Kelly nor Osula really improved the first team, with the former being moved on six months later and the latter being seen as a 'project player' from the off, so it really felt like we signed nobody in the summer when the Marc Guehi talks fell through.
Paul Mitchell offered an alternative to Eddie Howe if they couldn't land Marc Guehi in the form of Jean-Clair Todibo. A player Newcastle had looked at in the past, and never made a move for.
Now, TalkSPORT's Alex Crook claims that Eddie Howe flat out refused to make a move for the Nice centre-back who ultimately signed for West Ham United on loan before the Hammers recently triggered a £35m option to keep him at the club.
Eddie Howe wanted nothing to do with Jean-Clair Todibo
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Crook claims that Mitchell, who'd not long been at Newcastle, suggested Todibo as a Plan B, but Howe and his staff were less than convinced.
> “When the Marc Guehi deal fell through, Jean-Clair Todibo was Paul Mitchell’s idea of a Plan B.“The coaching staff at Newcastle ruled that out because they had done those background checks, and they looked into his character.
>
> “Actually, if you hear some of the stories and how he has conducted himself at West Ham, I would suggest they probably dodged a bullet going against Paul Mitchell.”
Paul Mitchell's first player suggestion may have sealed his fate from the off
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It definitely seems like the Paul Mitchell plan was doomed from the off if Howe and his staff were refusing his suggestions straight away, albeit correctly by the looks of things.
Todibo had been linked with Newcastle the summer before Mitchell's arrival, so it seems that they had done their due diligence, and he didn't fit in with Howe's No D-head policy.
He's West Ham's problem now as we continue to look for a long-term partner for Sven Botman.