At 21 years of age, Jean-Clair Todibo has managed to make his debut at Toulouse, be transferred to Barcelona as well as being loaned out twice, first to Schalke 04 and now Benfica in Portugal.
Despite boasting an already more eclectic career than most players 10 years his elder, the centre-back only has 25 professional games under his belt, and yet Fulham, in dire need of a defender during the last transfer window, were prepared to pay €18m for his services.
Todibo, not wanting to move to the Premier League, turned down the chance to taste England’s top-tier, instead opting to play under Jorge Jesus in Lisbon.
Well, we say play, but the youngster has yet to make an appearance for the Portuguese side, mostly because of injury issues, and he could end up returning to Barcelona in January.
That’s according to Sport, who explain Benfica appear to have a clause in the deal allowing them to send him back to Catalonia.
The newspaper explain that while this wouldn’t be great for Barcelona themselves, it could be a welcome move for Ronald Koeman, who finds himself short in defence after losing Gerard Piqué for an extended period of time, which is added to the setbacks suffered by Araujo and most recently Clément Lenglet.
With no guarantees they can get Eric García from Manchester City in January, the return of Todibo could help them, even if they have no idea if he’ll up to the level required at the Nou Camp.
Either way, with no games played this season as of yet, it appears Fulham and Scott Parker have dodged a bullet here, and saved themselves €18m.
That might change down the line, since there’s plenty of time for Todibo to become the player many believe he can be, but, for now, the Cottagers can count themselves fortunate to have seen their offer turned down by the player.
