Jean-Clair Todibo is set to return to the West Ham fold for the crucial game with Wolves and he has revealed the emotional reasons he’s desperate to keep the club in the Premier League.
The Hammers have seven games to secure Premier League survival, starting with a must-win home match against Wolves on Friday night.
West Ham are banking on the return of a host of key players who have been missing for the last two games, including much-improved defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
The Frenchman has endured a hot and cold first two seasons with West Ham and his fair share of injury niggles too.
Selfless reason Todibo is desperate to keep West Ham in the Premier League
Under Nuno Espirito Santo of late, though, Todibo has started to really show why Tim Steidten jumped on a private jet to arrange what would ultimately be a £35m move from Nice to east London.
At times, former Barcelona man Todibo has looked Champions League class.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers' Jose Sa punches clear under pressure from West Ham United's Max Kilman during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United at Molineux on January 3, 2026 in Wolverhampton, England.
At others, he has looked more Championship.
If Todibo and his West Ham teammates don’t play their cards right, they could be plying their trades there next season.
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In reality of course, West Ham’s big earners and most saleable assets will probably be sold to clubs in Europe’s top leagues and Todibo would be among them.
Jean-Clair Todibo during Chelsea v West Ham United - Premier League
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Despite the fact it would probably be relatively straightforward for Todibo to engineer a summer departure if the Hammers do drop, the 26-year-old is desperate to keep the club in the top flight.
And he has told one journalist the emotional reasons he will be doing everything in his power to keep that Premier League crest on West Ham’s shirt sleeves next season.
During Nuno’s press conference ahead of Wolves, journalist Vaishali Bhardwaj told the Hammers boss she had spoken to Todibo about the fight for survival.
Rather than looking at the situation from a selfish point of view, Todibo says he and his teammates want to stay up because they know the jobs of staff at the club will be on the line if West Ham are relegated.
Todibo wants to keep West Ham staff in jobs
Reporter Bhardwaj revealed Todibo told her Wolves will not be under any pressure for the game against West Ham whereas he and his teammates are feeling ‘varying levels of pressure at the moment’.
The biggest pressure being the fact they want to keep hard-working West Ham staff in their jobs.
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Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jean-Clair Todibo line up for a corner during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester City
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“Jean-Clair said something really interesting actually, about how the players want to survive for themselves and for the club,” Bhardwaj told Nuno.
“But he also spoke a lot about the fact they (the players) are aware that if the club are relegated, people are going to lose their jobs at the club.”
It is refreshing to hear highly paid footballers thinking about people other than themselves or their agents.
Nuno’s response was also good to hear as he told the press that Todibo was right and that things such as staff potentially losing their jobs should provide the inspiration and motivation needed to pull out of trouble over the next seven weeks.
Todibo should be back for Wolves after missing Villa and Leeds with a calf strain.
So he will be able to make his mark on the situation, just as he had started to with his performances prior to picking up that knock.
Todibo is right to think about the bigger picture too.
Jean-Clair Todibo looks at his phone on the London Stadium pitch before West Ham's Premier League clash with Bournemouth
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Relegation from the Premier League is often framed in terms of lost revenue and the glamour of being involved in the self-proclaimed best league in the world.
But the human cost inside clubs is just as significant.
Behind the scenes, dropping out of the top flight often leads to widespread staff redundancies across multiple departments. Broadcast income can fall by over £100m, even with parachute payments, forcing clubs to rapidly cut operational costs.
That often means job losses in areas such as marketing, media, ticketing, hospitality, and community outreach. Matchday staff can also be reduced as attendances and corporate demand decline.
Football departments are not immune either of course with recruitment teams, analysts and support staff often scaled back as budgets shrink and priorities shift towards financial stability and streamlining.
What makes this particularly stark is the speed. Clubs built for Premier League scale – which West Ham have always been – are suddenly forced to operate like Championship sides within months.
Long-serving employees, many of whom are on a fraction of the wages and salaries of players, pay the price.
Relegation impacts livelihoods across the entire organisation, far beyond the pitch.
It is heartening to hear Todibo and his teammates are taking that on board ahead of crunch time.
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