Newcastle have made a move for £40m defender dubbed the ‘new Raphael Varane’

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Newcastle United are one of several clubs who have recently made their move for 23-year-old centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo from Ligue 1 side Nice.

Jean-Clair Todibo has found himself on many a wish-list this summer with Newcastle joined by West Ham, Aston Villa (of course), Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain all interested in the young defender.

The former Barcelona man made his debut for the Catalan club in 2019 amid reports likening him to Raphel Varane, before moving on loan to Nice in 2020 then making the move permanent a year later.

Todibo had a slow start to his career before finding his feet at Nice

Things didn’t go according to plan for Todibo at Barcelona only making four La Liga appearances and finding himself loaned out to Schalke, Benfica before landing at Nice.

Now firmly established in the Nice team and making a name for himself, other clubs are on the hunt for his signature. According to a report from Nice-Matin in France, Newcastle have already made their move for the Frenchman, but as things stand, Todibo is choosing to stay put.

However, it is believed that a bid between £35m-£42million could tempt Nice into letting the player leave, which would also benefit Barcelona who inserted a 20% sell-on fee when they sold Todibo to Nice for just £7.2million.

Newcastle need a pacey defender like Todibo

Newcastle were said to be interested in Todibo last year too when his value was just thought to be around £17million, but after another solid year in Ligue 1 his stock is on the rise.

Eddie Howe‘s Newcastle definitely need more numbers in defence, particularly a centre-back with pace as that’s what was shown to be lacking when Newcastle took on Chelsea in Atlanta on Wednesday night.

Given how settled Todibo appears to be at Nice, it sounds like this one is a non-starter, but if any of the other clubs come in with a bid that makes the Nice board twitch, Newcastle could act too.