Man Utd target Todibo BLASTED as INEOS face HUGE Nice crisis

Tom Weber

1 Apr 2024 17:39 BST
4 min read

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Jean-Clair Todibo, Nice — © IMAGO

In-demand defender Jean-Clair Todibo is one of the players blamed for Nice's recent results crisis.

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The Ligue 1 side are in free fall and a far cry from the side that took the division by storm early in the season. Boasting the best defence in Europe, Nice were mounting a proper challenge for PSG's throne in 2023, but things have taken a turn for the worse in recent months.

The Allianz Riviera side have only won once in the league since the beginning of February, a rotten run that has seen them lose five of their last eight games and slip down to fifth in the standings. Intriguingly, it is not coach Francesco Farioli who is being blamed for this crisis - despite his notoriously bland style of play - but the players, chief among them star defender Jean-Clair Todibo.

The centre-back has been the subject of intense transfer links since last summer, with Man Utd - now also owned by INEOS like Nice - at the front of the queue for the France international, though owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe will reportedly not give the Red Devils a discount on the 24-year-old. French media believe that Todibo is already thinking about his summer move.

Todibo to blame for crisis?

Todibo has been forced to shoulder a lot of the blame - even from his own fans - and he is once again being blasted in the French press after Nice were defeated 2-1 by relegation-battling Nantes. Local paper Nice-Matin, for example, gave the Frenchman a lowly match rating of just 3 against the Bretons.

Journalist Daniel Rolo was particularly scathing in his assessment of the defender: "There are lamentable attitudes on the part of certain players. There were close-ups of players, while the team was losing, who were borderline laughing in the stands. The crisis is mainly centred around Todibo."

"We have known Todibo's mentality for a very long time. He had a good six months, then nature returned. He's not a very good person in a locker room, we knew that even before. The crisis is really around him and his friends, who have enormous achievements, who no longer do anything, no longer make any effort."

"In there, you add [Khephren] Thuram and other players who are totally ruining the locker room from the inside. I think the supporters realised that. The performance was a disaster, and I don't think anyone blames Farioli and, quite honestly, I think it's very difficult to blame the coach even if we could talk about his limit, which is not having a Plan B."