Big twist at West Ham as Julen Lopetegui makes interesting Jean-Clair Todibo statement. Julen Lopetegui has shared something very interesting indeed about West Ham United centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo.
French defender Jean-Clair Todibo joined Julen Lopetegui at West Ham from Nice in the summer, after Tim Steidten took the private jet out to France to hijack Juventus’s move to sign him.
Todibo arrived at the London Stadium on a season-long loan, and the Hammers had an obligation to buy him if he made a certain amount of appearances for us – a tally he has already surpassed.
At the time, it seemed like a sensational deal for the Hammers. However, Todibo hasn’t been great at all for West Ham this season.
It has been claimed recently that he was ‘forced’ into joining the Hammers rather than Juventus in the summer. And judging by his performances for us so far, it looks very much like there was some truth to those claims.
West Ham twist as Julen Lopetegui makes Jean-Clair Todibo statement
Todibo has endured a tough start to life at the London Stadium. He has been off the pace physically during most of his outings for us, although he did look a lot better against Southampton no Boxing Day in all fairness to him.
It has been claimed that he had a big fall-out with Lopetegui earlier this season, with some outlets even suggesting that the pair came to blows.
The Frenchman has been warming the bench since our 5-2 defeat to Arsenal (the day the supposed incident happened).
Todibo has clearly been in Lopetegui’s bad books because there is no way that Konstantinos Mavropanos is a better defender than the 24-year-old. With that in mind, it was really interesting to hear Lopetegui’s verdict on Todibo after our win over Southampton.
The Spaniard spoke to the media after our 1-0 win over the Saints, and responded when asked about squad players coming in and doing a job, as quoted by WHUFC.com. Lopetegui said, “J-C Todibo showed that as he started on the bench, and then started playing in this kind of match. It’s not easy, but he showed his mentality and he was ready.“
The praise from Lopetegui proves that there has been a big U-turn behind the scenes.
The former Nice centre-back took to Instagram earlier this week and responded directly to a West Ham fan who pleaded with him to stay.
Todibo urged the Hammers fans not to believe everything they read, and insisted that he is going nowhere.
West Ham need Jean-Clair Todibo to be on top form now, after Max Kilman suffered a serious looking injury against Southampton.
Maybe now is the time we will begin to see the real Todibo.
