Jean-Clair Todibo split opinion right down the middle as his strange start to life at West Ham took another twist last night.
Excitement about West Ham’s window business reached fever pitch when they landed Jean-Clair Todibo.
West Ham’s owners backed Lopetegui and technical director Tim Steidten with £155m for nine new signings.
The most impressive of those was arguably centre-back Todibo.
Steidten managed to beat Italian giants Juventus to bring the former Barcelona man to east London.
It was quite the coup given he was reportedly coveted by a number of top clubs.
Manchester United also wanted to sign the 24-year-old. But the door was opened for the Hammers when UEFA blocked that move due to INEOS’ involvement at both Nice and Man United.
Steidten jetted to Nice to convince Todibo West Ham were the right next step for his career.
After all the hype, though, the Frenchman is yet to start a Premier League game for West Ham.
Todibo speaks on West Ham shambles after dividing opinion
When he did get a start, in the Carabao Cup against Bournemouth, he looked understandably rusty and was hauled off by Lopetegui at half-time.
Todibo’s lack of action has perplexed many supporters – and even the club’s owners.
Not least because of the error-prone performances of Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Todibo joined West Ham on loan from Nice with an obligation to buy which will be triggered when he makes five league starts.
It remains to be seen whether the first of those comes at Brentford this weekend.
Conspiracy theories have abound that Todibo is not fancied by Lopetegui or that the club now have reservations about shelling out the £30m to make the move permanent.
There was then an astonishing revelation to Hammers News at the weekend after Todibo was once again left on the bench in a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea.
The top spokesman inside the club revealed that Lopetegui doesn’t believe Todibo is ‘tough enough’ for English football yet.
Todibo hardly made Lopetegui eat his words with what he wore to training ahead of Liverpool.
And he certainly didn’t look too tough when wincing and turning his back on a shot as Liverpool scored one of their five goals at Anfield.
But now Todibo has spoken on the West Ham shambles after dividing opinion.
Jekyll and Hyde performance from star Hammers capture
The 24-year-old blew hot and cold at Liverpool.
He was excellent in a first half where West Ham more than held their own.
Todibo was confident and comfortable on the ball and made a number of timely interceptions.
The second half was Jekyll and Hyde stuff, though.
Todibo criminally chose to look to cover a runner rather than block a shot which allowed opened up a huge gap for Liverpool to fire past Lukasz Fabianski with ease.
A few moments later he turned his back on another shot which flew past Fabianski instead of putting his body in the way for West Ham.
The flinching Frenchman was slammed by the likes of Jamie Carragher, Kevin Nolan and Jamie Redknapp for a lack of bravery.
It was a strange performance from the Frenchman it must be said.
Lopetegui praised him afterwards, saying he had a good game. And indeed that first half showed glimpses of his talent.
Some West Ham fans expected better given all the hype surrounding the ex Barca man.
Now Todibo has taken to social media and he clearly thinks he needs to improve too.
He has thanked fans for their support after 6,000 travelled to Anfield for a midweek evening game.
But he has made a vow as West Ham now turn attentions to Brentford in the Premier League.
“We exit the Carabao Cup,” Todibo said alongside a series of picture of him in action for the Hammers.
“Not the result we wanted.
“Thank you for your support.
“We will come back stronger in the next game!”
If Todibo does now take his place in the starting XI and retains it, he will trigger his permanent move away at Nottingham Forest in November.
West Ham go to Brentford in a 3pm kick-off on Saturday. And Todibo simply must show he can play to those first half levels for 90 minutes in the Premier League.
Because goodness knows West Ham and Lopetegui need the result.
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