Jean-Clair Todibo looks finished at West Ham after Nuno Espirito Santo made the situation perfectly clear before leaving him out at Arsenal.
Many at West Ham will be wishing Tim Steidten never boarded that private plane to Nice last summer.
Jean-Clair Todibo had made his mind up, he had no interest in joining the Hammers and had his heart set on Juventus.
That was after Man United were blocked from signing the Frenchman from Nice due to INEOS’ involvement in the ownership of both clubs.
Steidten divided opinion in east London and took the fall for his use of West Ham’s unprecedented £155m spend last summer when he was sacked in January.
Whatever your opinion on Steidten, the former technical director could get deals over the line.
Todibo looking a costly mistake for West Ham
Whether those deals were good deals is another matter entirely.
After touching down in Nice, it was not long before Steidten was returning to east London with Todibo in tow.
The former Barcelona flop was persuaded to snub Juve as he signed a season-long loan with obligation to buy set at £32m.
It was simply an arrangement to kick the transfer spending can down the road in terms of finances because Todibo only had to make five Premier League starts to trigger the obligation clause.
Had that clause been based on the number of 90 minute-matches completed, it would have been in the balance.
Even in the new campaign, after a full pre-season, Todibo has been subbed off before full-time.
That was until recently when he dropped out of the side – and then squad – altogether.
Since he was sacked, it has emerged Graham Potter fell out with a host of Hammers stars behind the scenes.
That’s not the first time West Ham fans have heard that about this group.
There was mutiny chaos at the club last December when five West Ham stars united to try and force the owners to sack Julen Lopetegui.
One of those was allegedly Todibo, who would reportedly have been sold in the summer the moment West Ham made his move permanent had they received suitable offers.
Now Todibo looks done at West Ham after Nuno made situation clear
Now all signs now point to the French defender being done at the club.
All the focus was on James Ward-Prowse’s omission in Nuno’s first game at Everton.
So it went somewhat unnoticed that defender Todibo was nowhere to be seen in the West Ham squad for that game.
Todibo looked Champions League standard one moment and Championship the next last season.
And he started the new campaign in the same inconsistent manner.
Lopetegui confirmed he had a bust-up with Todibo last season that reportedly turned physical.
The 25-year-old was dropped from the squad for a game and made to train with the Under 21s for a spell as punishment.
He was one of the players Potter fell out with too.
The Athletic revealed Potter called Todibo into his office to tell him to improve his effort in training.
The defender’s alleged response was to turn up late the next day – hence being dropped from the squad for Spurs recently.
A leading external West Ham source told Hammers News the truth behind Todibo’s absence from the squad for Nuno’s first game at Everton.
Hammers News exclusively revealed Todibo was suffering with sickness at West Ham hence his absence at Everton.
All eyes have been on whether Todibo would return at Arsenal.
Nuno confirmed Nuno had missed a number of training sessions last week which were due to his illness.
But ahead of the clash with the Gunners he confirmed Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were both back training and would be considered for selection at Arsenal.
Nuno made it clear Todibo was available for selection before snub
“We worked with 22 boys (on the training pitch),” Nuno said pre-match.
“(The day before the game) is the day we make decisions. Todibo trained. Last week, he didn’t train in all the sessions. Now, he’s involved. We will see.
“The same (for Wan-Bissaka), the same. Thank God, this week has been good. They are recovering.”
Well Nuno was right, we will see indeed.
He made it clear Todibo was available for selection along with Wan-Bissaka and Ward-Prowse.
So it is telling that while Wan-Bissaka has been recalled straight into the starting XI, Todibo has been completely left out of the 20-man West Ham matchday squad at the Emirates along with Ward-Prowse – who has been told he can leave in January.
Ahead of the game Hammers News called on Nuno to sell Todibo on January 1st if he finds he is a bad apple at West Ham.
Now the writing looks very much on the wall for that scenario to play out with loan defender Igor Julio preferred ahead of the man West Ham have just paid £32m for.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
