Newcastle United had scouts in attendance watching Nice take on Rennes with a view to reporting on defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
The link between Newcastle and Jean-Clair Todibo isn’t new with reports coming out towards the tail end of the summer transfer window that Newcastle wanted to follow up their signing of Sven Botman with Todibo, but nothing came of the rumour.
However, Fabrizio Romano posted on Twitter yesterday that scouts from Liverpool and Newcastle were in attendance to watch Todibo with a view to making a £39million move for the defender likened to Raphael Varane.
Fabrizio Romano backs Todibo to make a big move this summer
That figure is twice what Newcastle were looking to pay last summer, but that rise in price may just be a good indicator of how much he’s living up to his potential.
Back in 2020 Lothar Matthaus said Todibo was “the best centre-back I’ve seen in a long time” saying he’s “incredibly calm and always finds solutions”. Praise from Lothar Matthaus should not be underestimated.
That sounds like the ideal partner for Sven Botman in the centre of our defence. He is the same age as Botman too at 23 but both play like they’ve been around for years.
Newcastle should go for Jean-Clair Todibo over Fikayo Tomori
Newcastle were linked with Fikayo Tomori yesterday but the biggest criticsm of his is that he’s not great on the ball. Stark contrast to Todibo, and the Frenchman is two-years younger than Tomori.
Todibo has made 43 appearances in all competitions for Nice this season, which includes 11 games in the Europa Conference League.
He’s yet to make his senior debut for France, but has been called up to the squad making it to the bench in two games. But it surely won’t be long before he is given his shot given his reputation.
As per Fabrizio Romano‘s tweet, Liverpool are also looking at Todibo and Manchester United have been linked in the past too, although that was before they secured Lisandro Martinez. They also have the actual Raphael Varane, so they shouldn’t be greedy and just let us have this one.
A 23-year-old centre-back who is calm on the ball alongside another 23-year-old centre-back who is calm on the ball. How can Eddie Howe resist that?
Forget Fikayo Tomori, let’s go get Jean-Clair Todibo.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
