So that’s that. After over a year’s worth of speculation, Manchester United will not be signing long-standing £40 million target Jean-Clair Todibo after all.
And Sir Jim Ratcliffe certainly isn’t happy about that.
According to Fabrizio Romano, talks have been at an ‘advanced’ stage with all parties for a number of months. But, thanks to a very recent change in UEFA rules, Manchester United‘s pursuit of OGC Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo has suddenly – and, in Ratcliffe’s view, harshly – blocked.
The funny thing is, this whole situation would have been avoided had Man United not defeated neighbours Man City in last month’s FA Cup final. Goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo at Wembley not only ensured that Erik ten Hag would maintain his trophy-a-season average, it also secured the Red Devils a place in the Europa League next season while knocking Newcastle out of contental competition.
United and Nice, both owned by Ineos, have at least been given permission to potentially go head-to-head in the Europa League in 2024/25. But with UEFA blocking the transfer of players from one club to another when they are playing in the same competition, Todibo will now be prevented from swapping one Ratcliffe-controlled club for another.
Manchester United’s Jean-Clair Todibo hopes over
“They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United,” Ratcliffe tells Bloomberg. “But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”
This is not quite ‘one rule for one, one rule for another’, as some irate United supported have suggested on social media, but Man City’s signing of Savio does highlight just how vulnerable these rules are to loopholes.
Girona, where Savio has played for the last two seasons, have joined City in the Champions League next term. But the winger was, technically speaking, a Troyes player, not a Girona one. Savio became the record signing of the City Group-controlled Troyes but never made an appearance for the French side, moving to Spain on loan.
Had Savio joined Girona permanently, he would have ran into the same problems facing Todibo when Manchester City came calling.
And while the Red Bull clubs Leipzig and Salzburg have made a habit of trading clubs themselves in recent weeks – see Benjamin Sesko in 2023 – those UEFA rules only came in force after last summer. For Man United, they appear to be a victim of timing.
Jarrad Branthwaite is United’s number one target
Ratcliffe, meanwhile, insists that ‘it will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place’ with regards to Manchester United’s squad.
Todibo was one of their alternatives to top target Jarrad Branthwaite. There was a real chance, too, that both could have ended the window as a Manchester United player, the Red Devils in the market for more than one central defender.
Branthwaite remains the preferred candidate. Everton turned down United’s opening bid last week, however, with one pundit wondering if the FA Cup winners will have to get creative in their pursuit of the £70 million-rated England international.
“£35 million is a ridiculous offer,” former Everton midfielder Don Hutchison, who spent two years at Goodison Park from 1998 to 2000, tells ESPN FC. “They are low-balling Everton massively.
“If they are going to sell Branthwaite, they were rumoured to be wanting about £80 million. That will probably come down to £60 million or £70 million. But they want a lot of money for him.
“I think they’ll try and move Harry Maguire on.
“(Maguire will be) on big wages. That will be difficult. They might even try and use him in the Branthwaite deal if they tried to bring him in.”