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Manchester United and OGC Nice had closed a deal to bring Jean-Clair Todibo to Old Trafford before UEFA blocked the move.
This is according to Sunday’s paper edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, who claim that Serie A giants Juventus are now poised to swoop in for the defender who was Old Trafford-bound.
There had been many reports that Todibo was on United’s shortlist as they looked for a centre back to replace Raphael Varane, who left the club when his contract expired in June.
But until now, there was no indication that an agreement had been reached as the media focused on Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Ligt.
However, GdS insists that “The Rossoneri club does not intend to make discounts for Todibo. We start from a request for 40 million, the same that Manchester United had put on the table in recent weeks. Deal closed and then blocked by UEFA for regulatory reasons.
“Nice and United have the same ownership (Ineos) and next season they will both be protagonists in the Europa League. Translated: family operations prohibited.”
Whether this is rhetoric on the paper’s part or a deal really had been reached may only come to light later.
What is known is that United’s part owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, was not happy about the ruling, saying “They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United…But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”
The UEFA ruling only extends to September 2025, but that would also rule out a move to United in next summer’s window for the classy defender. If Gazzetta is to be believed, he is not prepared to wait that long to start a new challenge.
“Todibo had to backtrack, but he hasn’t changed plans: he wants to try a new experience,” the outlet explains.
“Manchester United faded, he got under West Ham. But now the Frenchman has put Juventus at the top of his thoughts. It’s no coincidence that the Hammers bought Max Kilman. One less competitor for Giuntoli who, right now, would like to get to Todibo through a loan with right/obligation to buy.”
“In the market everything can change quickly and Todibo experienced it first hand at the end of June, when he was already thought of as a Red Devils player.”
With Branthwaite looking out of reach and United known to prefer to sign two centre backs this summer, seeing a top target, who they would have paid full price for, move to a rival club will be a bitter pill to swallow and as Sir Jim suggested, somewhat pointless and vindictive on UEFA’s part.
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