West Ham United believe Jean-Clair Todibo will become an integral part of Julen Lopetegui’s side, sources have revealed, with the manager delighted with the player’s progress after having left him out of the team early in the season.
After being heavily linked with moves to Manchester United and Juventus in the summer, Todibo completed a loan switch to East London, joining West Ham in a deal that will become permanent for a fee in the region of €40 million at the end of this campaign. Lopetegui opted to integrate the central defender into his team slowly, and received criticism for this decision, but now feels validated after the Frenchman put in two strong performances in the last two games.
Sources: West Ham Have Huge Faith in Todibo
He wasn’t playing in the early weeks
sources have revealed that Lopetegui feels his careful integration of summer signing Todibo has been justified, as the defender has started to grow into his role in the Irons’ team.
The Spaniard felt the 24-year-old wasn’t well-equipped to be thrust into the physical and intense Premier League, an opinion that wasn’t well received amongst the Hammers faithful, who were eager to see their new addition in action immediately. Arriving from Nice with a glowing reputation, having been targeted by both United and Italian giants Juventus, there was an expectation that the former Barcelona man would usurp the likes of Konstantinos Mavropanos in the pecking order from the offset, and partner fellow new signing Max Kilman at the heart of West Ham’s defence.
However, limited to short cameos in the first two gameweeks against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, playing a combined eight minutes in these fixtures, the imperious centre-half didn’t feature at all in the league in the following three games, and was even hooked at half-time during an EFL Cup clash with Bournemouth. Producing a ‘not convincing’ performance in a 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in this competition, it was certainly a challenging start for the player.
However, this conservative approach to bedding Todibo in at the London Stadium appears to be bearing fruit now. Starting alongside Kilman in each of West Ham’s last two games, against Brentford and Ipswich, the French Guiana-born man has impressed, playing the full 90 minutes in both matches.
Sources close to the club say he will become an integral part of the side moving forward, and are convinced their significant financial investment in the player will prove to be an astute piece of business.
