Nice exercise option on Barcelona’s Jean-Clair Todibo

Following loan spells in the Bundesliga with Schalke 04, Liga NOS with Benfica and Ligue 1 with Nice, Barcelona’s Jean-Clair Todibo has finally found a permanent move. According to Sport, Nice has executed their purchase option on the French defender. The club is expected to pay Barcelona €8.5 million with an additional €7 million in variables. They’ve also reserved a percentage on any future transfer.

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The defender had spent the last couple of season on loan from Barcelona.

While Todibo was not one of the players who Barcelona were hamstrung wage-wise, his transfer does bring in a decent transfer fee that should help them balance their books. He arrived from  Toulouse as an 18-year-old during the winter transfer window back in the 2018-19 season.

At the time, the Catalans appeared to rate him as they could have waited to sign him in the summer of that year and would have arrived as a free agent. Instead, they decided to pay Toulouse a fee of €1 million. But much like other defenders, they’ve signed — like Yerry Mina and Marlon Santos — Todibo saw scant minutes during his time at Barcelona. When he was loaned out to Schalke, the idea was he would get more experience and then come back and be part of their plans. In his cameos with Barcelona, he impressed.

He is a center-back who isn’t afraid to play out from the back and is good with the ball at his feet. Qualities that usually play well at a club like Barcelona. But he never managed to fully break into the team and it later became apparent they no longer had as much confidence in him. After he returned from Schalke, he was then sent out to Benfica where he played little to no minutes as he was not to the liking of manager Jorge Jesus. Six months later he made the move to Nice.

Todibo regained his form with the French side and formed a strong partnership with fellow loanee William Saliba. He performed well enough for the club to make his move permanent.