Manchester United should sell former captain to sign £35m valued Jean-Clair Todibo

The 23-year-old French defender is a top priority at Old Trafford

Manchester United would need to spend £35 million on Jean-Clair Todibo. Personal arrangements wouldn’t pose an issue if he moved, but United must sell Harry Maguire in order to complete the transaction.

According to the French publication L’Equipe, a deal to bring Todibo to Manchester United is imminent, with an acquisition of the 23-year-old ‘in sight’ as Erik ten Hag looks for greater defensive support.

The former Barcelona player, along with Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace and Edmond Tapsoba of Bayer Leverkusen, were rumoured to be on a shortlist of three candidates to succeed Harry Maguire.

When the talks to sell Maguire to West Ham for £30 million fell through, the Hammers shifted on and announced their acquisition of Stuttgart centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos, which all but indicates that the previous Manchester United captain won’t be proceeding to the London Stadium.

Maguire may yet depart before the deadline next week, but the club is reportedly making a big effort to sign Todibo as a “bonus” player.

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The Manchester Evening News reported that senior United insiders called the addition of a defender a “bonus” after securing Ten Hag’s three primary priorities for this summer.

When it appeared that Maguire, 30, would complete a transfer to West Ham, Bayern Munich’s Benjamin Pavard was targeted as an alternative. 

However, after negotiations stalled, Manchester United abandoned Pavard, which enabled Inter Milan to step in and complete the purchase of the France international in his place.

As there might be a stalemate in the middle behind Ten Hag’s favourite partnership of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, Pavard would have had an advantage over Todibo because he could have provided coverage at right-back in addition to centre-back.

The latter was previously mentioned in connection with a relocation to Saudi Arabia, although those rumours have since been denied.

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