Writing about so many players during West Ham’s most active, vibrant transfer window in years sometimes means having to go and do research on-the-hoof before writing dozens of articles about players hitherto unknown. In the case of Jean-Clair Todibo I feel a small sense of familiarity with the history of the young French Guianese defender, I followed his story from first rumours, negotiations, through to signing.
And I just sense there’s a wrong slant being put on all of the language coming out of London Stadium at the moment.
Without wishing to embarrass the player, his physical history and trauma at a young age is well in the public domain and I mentioned it in my article about him when we were signing him- you can read it here.
Briefly at nine years old he suffered terrible accident as a pedestrian: according to the player himself:“I had an injury on both my leg bones and down to the ankle, and there were several fractures. I’ve still got the scars, but it’s history now.” He did of course make a full recovery and was playing at the Nou Camp for Barcelona aged 18.
Working on his physique for Premier League levels may well take extra development time coming from this injury background, and quite possibly Lopetegui feels protective towards him.
When our ‘high ranking’ source at the club told C and H on Sunday (Gonzo’s article, here) that “[Lopetegui] thinks he needs to toughen up for the Premier League’; could it really be he is protecting the youngster until he is 100% certain that Jean-Clair is strong enough to cope with the extra physicality of the toughest league in the world?
And today, in the Press Conference that presaged the Carling Cup match, when asked about the availability of both Carlos Soler and Todibo, Lopetegui replied ”
“They (Todibo and Soler) are still adapting, but we’re working for everyone to be able to contribute throughout the season.”
This, certainly, in Todibo’s unique case would make more sense.
We’ve all seen the UEFA Conference League video displaying his talent – and wondered why he doesn’t make the first team: If Lopetegui senses he needs more time to ‘adapt’ his fitness to be ready, knowing a teeny bit about the player’s history, then that’s good enough for me.
And don’t hit me with all that nonsense about ‘what are we doing signing a player who isn’t fit’? He clearly has enormous talent and I’d rather a coach look after him than fling him on before he’s ready and lose him for a season.
And just remember, Moyes held Jarrod Bowen back for about half a dozen games because he said he wasn’t ready for PL football. That one worked out ok, didn’t it!