West Ham owner David Sullivan watches on
(Credit: Imago)
Rahul Lakhani
Mon 25 August 2025 19:10, UK
West Ham’s squad building has been disastrous in recent seasons, and they now find themselves in a poor position on and off the pitch.
Funds have been limited for Graham Potter to strengthen his squad, and West Ham have suffered a woeful start to the season with heavy Premier League losses against Sunderland and Chelsea.
Reinforcements are needed in several positions, and West Ham desperately need a new midfielder to give them more legs in the middle of the park.
Unpopular owner David Sullivan has overseen a steady decline in quality on the pitch, and one recent deal has now been highlighted as an example of the poor recruitment process at the club.
David Sullivan, West Ham
David Sullivan is unpopular among West Ham fans
West Ham slammed for Jean-Clair Todibo deal
A huge chunk of West Ham’s summer transfer budget went on making Jean-Clair Todibo’s loan deal permanent for around £35million.
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Todibo joined West Ham from Nice last year on a loan deal with an option to buy, as per Sky Sports at the time.
Todibo has been a major disappointment at West Ham so far, and speaking to talkSPORT, former Premier League manager Martin O’Neill slammed Sullivan over the deal for Todibo.
Stat Todibo
Appearances 31
Yellow cards 3
Todibo’s stats for West Ham
“The team is not good enough. They cannot defend, they cannot defend at all,” O’Neill stated.
“It’s an interesting one. When you have got players who don’t really want to defend, who are defenders, you’ve got a major problem.
“They have a lad called Todibo playing in the middle; he was off at half-time. He’s cost £35 million, I think. He was on loan last year, and he wasn’t all that good, then you buy him for £35m.
“He’s got a lot to do. He hasn’t got a defensive thought in his head for a central defender.”
Jean-Clair Todibo needs to improve
Todibo joined as a highly-rated young defender, but is yet to remotely justify his price tag, and West Ham desperately need him to come good.
Despite splashing out a whopping £35m on Todibo, West Ham are still in desperate need of another centre-back.
Todibo is likely to leave for a major loss unless he improves, and West Ham could be looking at a relegation battle if their leaky defence does not fix up.
With a new defender unlikely to join, the only solution for Potter is to get the best out of Todibo, but it is a tough ask for any manager to oversee overnight improvement in a centre-back who has shown defensive frailties so far.
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