The Exit Door #1 : Jean-Clair Todibo

At last, Barça have also begun to sell players. Having already completed a couple of transfers, it was about time that the board begun to get rid of players unlikely to get game time within the squad. Today, I’ll try to cover each one of them, starting with the departure of Jean-Clair Todibo.

Todibo’s story is weird in many ways. Coming in for a minimal fee from Toulouse back in January 2019, fans expected great things from him. And indeed, the excitement was not baseless. Calm, technical and rapid in a 1 on 1 race, Jean-Clair was never afraid of taking any risks. It was going to be tough to make his way into the starting lineup, but the long-term prospects were present.

Yet Todibo would only complete 5 appearances in a Barça shirt within the next year. Although he did show glimpses of his talent, his flaws thoroughly eclipsed any positives. His decision-making always caused him issues, as he would often opt to carry the ball himself rather than pass it into a better area or vice versa. His positioning was also poor, while his immaturity and lack of clarity of thought saw him constantly lose the ball. He was raw and barely showed any progress.

Jean would spend the latter part of the 19/20 season at Schalke, without any notable performances. At the start of the next season, he left on loan to Benfica, where he would only play twice. This resulted in the deal being cut short. A third consecutive loan move secured him game time at OGC Nice and, though I didn’t watch him in-game, I’m not convinced that he made any significant step forward.

Attitude problems?

People close to him have often complained about his attitude and lack of professionalism, which for me puts a nail in the coffin for his Barça career. Nice have exercised their purchase option worth 8,5 million, handing the club some much needed cash to work with.