Jean-Clair Todibo

[EdmondDantes]

I bet he can't wait for Sunday.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Really hope that he will impress against Sevilla on Sunday night. Really liked what I have seen so far. He is a rough diamond and a work in progress (naturally given his age and lack of experience) but he has tons of quality that you cannot gain if you don't have an innate talent for it or the right physical attributes. Thinking about his height, physical presence and pace. Proved (so far) to have a decent technique as well although the aspect of technique (in particular the technique needed for a CB) can always be improved for such a young player.

To be fair, I was never really convinced by Lenglet. He is an above average CB and would be a great third choice, but I don't really believe that he is good enough to be starting for a club of our size and ambitions. Ideally, as unlikely as that is under Malmierda, Todibo will take Lenglet's place this season. We badly need pace in the CB positions given that Umtiti is done and dusted.

 

[khaled_a_d]

To be fair, I was never really convinced by Lenglet. He is an above average CB and would be a great third choice, but I don't really believe that he is good enough to be starting for a club of our size and ambitions. Ideally, as unlikely as that is under Malmierda, Todibo will take Lenglet's place this season. We badly need pace in the CB positions given that Umtiti is done and dusted.

I want to see Lenglet beside a pacey CB first tbh.
Him and Pique are just bad fit for each other.
I can take Lenglet as a stop-gap for Pique as the non-athletic starting CB

 

[Leo_Messi]

I want to see Lenglet beside a pacey CB first tbh.
Him and Pique are just bad fit for each other.
I can take Lenglet as a stop-gap for Pique as the non-athletic starting CB

Piqué, despite his advanced age and poor start to the season, is a much superior player to Lenglet and one of the most important players in our dressing room and one of the captains.

The way Lenglet has been playing, his age, natural lack of pace and lack of experience in comparison, I see no reason to denote Piqué and promote Lenglet. The Frenchmen is a decent CB but IMO not good enough to be a starting CB (regularly) for a club with our ambitions, goals and status.

So I would much rather accompany a young CB talent like Todibo with the right attributes (pace, physical presence, height, individual duels etc.) with a guy like Piqué.

Anyway I wrote a few times already, that I believe that we need to strengthen the CB positions with at least 2 new reinforcements next summer. A Konaté type of player and a more experienced CB.

Ideally I would part ways with Lenglet (never really convinced me and unlike Piqué he has resale value) as I don't see him accepting a new role as a substitute from next season on, give Todibo a good run of games this season so he can take Lenglet's role and possibly establish himself as a starter in the future, Konaté or a player of a similar talent and potential to slowly take the starting spot away from an aging Piqué (33+ years by then) and replacing a crooked and finished (most likely) Umtiti with an above average experienced CB who should be ready not to play all the time.

All of that is of course easier said than done and it is hard to tell what will occur. Lenglet might surprise me and develop into a world class CB (highly doubt that personally), Umtiti might miraculously regain his fitness and Todibo might go through the same development as Varane did in his 2 first seasons (2011-2013) but with him barely ever playing under Malmierda, that is highly doubtful as well.

I would not count on it though hence my wish for reinforcing the CB positions next summer.

 

[Riordon]

Piqué, despite his advanced age and poor start to the season, is a much superior player to Lenglet and one of the most important players in our dressing room and one of the captains.

The way Lenglet has been playing, his age, natural lack of pace and lack of experience in comparison, I see no reason to denote Piqué and promote Lenglet. The Frenchmen is a decent CB but IMO not good enough to be a starting CB (regularly) for a club with our ambitions, goals and status.

So I would much rather accompany a young CB talent like Todibo with the right attributes (pace, physical presence, height, individual duels etc.) with a guy like Piqué.

Anyway I wrote a few times already, that I believe that we need to strengthen the CB positions with at least 2 new reinforcements next summer. A Konaté type of player and a more experienced CB.

Ideally I would part ways with Lenglet (never really convinced me and unlike Piqué he has resale value) as I don't see him accepting a new role as a substitute from next season on, give Todibo a good run of games this season so he can take Lenglet's role and possibly establish himself as a starter in the future, Konaté or a player of a similar talent and potential to slowly take the starting spot away from an aging Piqué (33+ years by then) and replacing a crooked and finished (most likely) Umtiti with an above average experienced CB who should be ready not to play all the time.

All of that is of course easier said than done and it is hard to tell what will occur. Lenglet might surprise me and develop into a world class CB (highly doubt that personally), Umtiti might miraculously regain his fitness and Todibo might go through the same development as Varane did in his 2 first seasons (2011-2013) but with him barely ever playing under Malmierda, that is highly doubtful as well.

I would not count on it though hence my wish for reinforcing the CB positions next summer.

Agree, we need two CB’s. Believe Pique will call it quit after next season. Konate alone is not enough. He has super potential but IMO believing a 20 year old will fix our defense is a bit unrealistic. Ideally we partner him with someone who is 23-26 and already world class with plenty of experience, similar to when Laporte went to City and Van Dijk went to Liverpool. Koulibaly is a bit too old for that profile. I have some players in mind but need to see how they play this season.

 

[Leo_Messi]

Agree, we need two CB’s. Believe Pique will call it quit after next season. Konate alone is not enough. He has super potential but IMO believing a 20 year old will fix our defense is a bit unrealistic. Ideally we partner him with someone who is 23-26 and already world class with plenty of experience, similar to when Laporte went to City and Van Dijk went to Liverpool. Koulibaly is a bit too old for that profile. I have some players in mind but need to see how they play this season.

Don't think that Piqué will call it a day next summer at all. His contract runs out in 2022. I could see him continue until he reaches 35 years in 2022. Not playing for Spain will extend his longevity as he also alluded to himself.

Let's assume that Umtiti will leave next summer, Piqué will stay (can't imagine anything else, unless a serious injury destroys the last years of his career), Todibo will continue in his current role (nominally the 4th CB when Umtiti is ready) or a more prominent role next season, Lenglet gets sold for the reasons that I wrote and we end up buying Konaté and a experienced CB that would not demand constant playing time, we will end up with 4 CB's.

1 very experienced club veteran in Piqué that will still have a relatively high level on his day, 1 insanely talented young CB that ticks almost every box in Konaté, another promising CB in Todibo (hopefully with a more prominent role if he takes his chances this season) and the experienced CB that I talked about earlier.

Of course if Lenglet accepts that he will no longer be guaranteed first team football continuously, we might keep him and just reinforce ourselves with Konaté ending up with Piqué, Konaté, Lenglet and Todibo as our CB's. So essentially just replacing a crooked Umtiti with Konaté.

 

[Riordon]

Don't think that Piqué will call it a day next summer at all. His contract runs out in 2022. I could see him continue until he reaches 35 years in 2022. Not playing for Spain will extend his longevity as he also alluded to himself.

Let's assume that Umtiti will leave next summer, Piqué will stay (can't imagine anything else, unless a serious injury destroys the last years of his career), Todibo will continue in his current role (nominally the 4th CB when Umtiti is ready) or a more prominent role next season, Lenglet gets sold for the reasons that I wrote and we end up buying Konaté and a experienced CB that would not demand constant playing time, we will end up with 4 CB's.

1 very experienced club veteran in Piqué that will still have a relatively high level on his day, 1 insanely talented young CB that ticks almost every box in Konaté, another promising CB in Todibo (hopefully with a more prominent role if he takes his chances this season) and the experienced CB that I talked about earlier.

Of course if Lenglet accepts that he will no longer be guaranteed first team football continuously, we might keep him and just reinforce ourselves with Konaté ending up with Piqué, Konaté, Lenglet and Todibo as our CB's. So essentially just replacing a crooked Umtiti with Konaté.

I was thinking summer 2021 but that’s just speculation for now. Todibo has lots of potential but his development will be crucial. Still think we ideally get Konate + world class 23-27 year old CB with plenty experience to partner Konate over the next two summers with Todibo or Lenglet as third choice.

 

[Sorin]

Konate alone would cost around 80m. Buying another world class CB is not realistic as we have other positions to consolidate.

I would buy Konate, sell Umtiti and keep Pique, Lenglet and Todibo for the next 2 years. In the meantime we will hopefully have a full picture on Todibo's potential. With a good manager that is a good enough defence imo.

First thing though, we will have to get rid of the mediocre coach that we have.

 

[Riordon]

Konate alone would cost around 80m. Buying another world class CB is not realistic as we have other positions to consolidate.

I would buy Konate, sell Umtiti and keep Pique, Lenglet and Todibo for the next 2 years. In the meantime we will hopefully have a full picture on Todibo's potential. With a good manager that is a good enough defence imo.

First thing though, we will have to get rid of the mediocre coach that we have.

Well, if Konate is going to cost around 80m, then the question is should we go for him then? That would make him top3 over the world most expensive defender. While he has super potential, he is still a nobody. The guy hasn't even cemented his place at France U21. To put into perceptive, Liverpool got an already world class Van Dijk for that price. City got an already world class Laporte who had ben wanted by several topclass for years for 65m. Bayern got world class L.Hernandez for the same price. When you pay 80m, you should be able to get someone world class because its a hefty price for a CB. Right now really isn't further in his development than other french CB talents his age like Diop or Zagadou nor the best defender in Red Bull (Orban is) and paying 80m for him is IMO insanity and will make problems for us in further transfers.

If he really cost 80m, we should not buy him IMO and wait for market opportunities. Like Laporte for 65m. Umtiti 25m. These opportunities actually come quite often but we need to be better in the market. We should have went for L.Hernandez this summer or Militia for 50m who is just as good a talent for as Konate. We should try and hear Atletico about Jose Gimenez, IMO the best u25 CB out there with plenty of experience at the big stage. Thats the type of player you pay 80m for. Right now he is way better than Konate. I really can't see reasons for why we should pay more than 40-50m for Konate.

 

[DonAK]

Well, if Konate is going to cost around 80m, then the question is should we go for him then? That would make him top3 over the world most expensive defender. While he has super potential, he is still a nobody. The guy hasn't even cemented his place at France U21. To put into perceptive, Liverpool got an already world class Van Dijk for that price. City got an already world class Laporte who had ben wanted by several topclass for years for 65m. Bayern got world class L.Hernandez for the same price. When you pay 80m, you should be able to get someone world class because its a hefty price for a CB. Right now really isn't further in his development than other french CB talents his age like Diop or Zagadou and paying 80m for him is IMO insanity and will make problems for us in further transfers.

If he really cost 80m, we should not buy him IMO and wait for market opportunities. Like Laporte for 65m. These opportunities actually come quite often but we need to be better in the market. We should have went for L.Hernandez this summer or Militia for 50m who is just as good a talent for as Konate. We should try and hear Atletico about Jose Gimenez, IMO the best u25 CB out there with plenty of experience at the big stage. Thats the type of player you pay 80m for. Right now he is way better than Konate. I really can't see reasons for why we should pay more than 40-50m for Konate.

As always, the market dictates the price.

There's no World Class CB available, unless you want to burn 150m for Koulibaly lol. Atletico will never sell Gimenez to Barca, especially after the Griezmann debacle.

We need a CB next summer so we have no time to wait either. Zagadou is average and Issa Diop will prob cost even more than Konaté given he plays for a Premier League club.

We need an athletic CB with some pace to burn, that's the profile we should look after. There's very few alternatives.

Not saying we should pay 80m for him, but if the alternative is burning 50m on another slow CB that moves like a turtle I know what I will choose.

At the end of the day if he's good enough and talented enough and improves the team, no one will care about those 80 millions.

 

[serghei]

Todibo is strong, athletic, fast, and pretty good with the ball. Didn't PSG want Todibo in the Neymar deal? He has a lot of potential, so why not play him instead of looking from some other talented CBs?

Give him a run of games since Lenglet is a nightmare these days with multiple fuckups per game. At least let Todibo do these fuck-ups so he can learn from them. Although it's hard for Todibo to be worse than Lenglet these days. Maybe light some fire under Pique's and Lenglet's asses. They are very comfortable and loosing focus frequently. knowing Umtiti is crooked and Valverde doesn't even know who Todibo is. It means they can chill with no consequences in their playing time or their status in the team.

 

[BBZ8800]

About comments that we should sell Lenglet:
Pique is done in a year or two.
Umtiti is done due to injuries.
Todibo hasn't played 5 official matches for us.

Lenglet is the only safe bet that he will be here in 2-3 years.

Regarding Todibo, he is young and fast, but hold your horses regarding benching Lenglet.

We don't know anything about Todibo.
He could be as dumb as Dembele or having Wague's wild playstyle where every tackle is on a verge of a red card/breaking someone's leg.

Let's see how Todibo will actually play in official matches.
Lenglet, even though average in lots of things:
1. At least has a nice IQ
2. Is a good professional
3. Isn't murdering opponents in every tackle
4. Is at least playing on his true position
5. Has a lot of experience for his age

Even these 5 points are a mission impossible for more than half of our rooster.

 

[CatalinR10]

He was getting a lot of praise throughout the whole of last season


What happened ?

 

[messi2140]

About comments that we should sell Lenglet:
Pique is done in a year or two.
Umtiti is done due to injuries.
Todibo hasn't played 5 official matches for us.

Lenglet is the only safe bet that he will be here in 2-3 years.

Ernesto "Safe bet" Lenglet

 

[Havesaks]

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