The defender flopped on loan at Schalke. Now Jean-Clair Todibo is on the fast track and is moving into the Équipe Tricolore.
France’s national coach Didier Deschamps caused a big surprise with one of his personnel changes. He ordered the former Schalke player on loan Jean-Clair Todibo, who is now a regular player at OGC Nice, into the squad of the Équipe Tricolore for the upcoming European Championship qualification.
“His qualities are speed, tackling and his ball skills on the foot,” Deschamps stressed at the French national team’s official press conference. Deschamps had had Todibo on his radar for some time: “He has gained a lot of experience and was one of the best defenders in the league last season. I followed him before the World Cup and he continued to play. That’s why he’s here with us now.”
Schalke brought the defensive gem to Berger Feld from Spanish top club FC Barcelona for a loan fee of over one million euros on 15 January 2020. Todibo made 13 appearances for the Königsblauen, but failed to convince. After a few months, the loan chapter was over again. The station with the Königsblauen did not bring much joy to Jean-Clair Todibo, who was convinced by Schalke’s squad planner at the time, Michael Reschke, to move to the Ruhrpott.
“That was a big mistake of my youth,” the defensive man said in an interview with the renowned French newspaper L’equipe. Todibo was refreshingly self-critical in retrospect and spoke of a lack of humility, seriousness and professionalism. This had turned his Schalke tenure into a “personal failure”.
Todibo had to take some detours
Three years later, Todibo, who in the meantime also sought his fortune at Benfica Lisbon in Portugal, but did not play a single minute of competitive football there, is climbing the next rung of his career ladder. At OGC Nice, who transferred 8.5 million euros in transfer fees to Barcelona, Todibo has matured into an indispensable cornerstone. “He has not had a linear journey. His transfer at a very young age to Barcelona didn’t help,” says Didier Deschamps. Via detours, the ex-Schalker now seems to have arrived on the big football stage after all.