West Ham United have been chasing Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo over the past couple of weeks or so.
Jean-Clair Todibo was the subject of a bid from West Ham earlier this week – one that was thought to be worth around £30 million.
Julen Lopetegui is clearly on a mission to strengthen his central defensive ranks at the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.
The Hammers head coach has already brought his former player Max Kilman to the club in a blockbuster £40 million deal.
The 27-year-old former Wolves skipper will prove to be a great addition to the West Ham squad, I have no doubts about that.
That said, after Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd struggled so badly last season, it could be argued that Lopetegui actually needs to sign another high quality centre-back.
The thought of Todibo lining up alongside Kilman for the Hammers in central defence is an extremely exciting one.
However, there has just been a big new twist in West Ham’s pursuit of the talented French defender…
Jean-Clair Todibo to West Ham takes major new twist
The Nice centre-back has been incredible since he joined the Ligue 1 outfit from Barcelona in 2021.
He has been one of the very best central defenders in France and it’s only because of William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano that he’s not starting regularly for his country.
Lopetegui is clearly a very big fan of the former Barca man, and West Ham have even been accused by Juventus of ‘inflating the market’ by making such a big offer form him!
The Hammers were initially told by Nice to pay £34 million to bring Todibo to the London Stadium this summer.
Now things seem to have changed though.
Fabrizio Romano claims that Nice are now demanding £38 million for Todibo – that’s £8 million more than West Ham have offered, and £4 million more than they were asking for originally.
I still think that kind of money for Todibo would represent a good deal for West Ham.
The Nice star is just 24, so he will only continue to get better throughout the course of the next decade.
With his raw power, pace and exceptional ability to read a game, Jean-Clair Todibo would take West Ham to another level defensively.
On paper, he’s actually perfectly built for Premier League football, with his impressive 6ft 3in frame.
I don’t actually think that his new £38 million price-tag should perturb the powers that be at the London Stadium.
However, the bad news for the Hammers is that Aston Villa allegedly want to sign him as well now.
So it remains to be see whether we manage to beat Villa to Todibo’s signature this summer.
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