As per a report from The Sun, Liverpool are interested in a move to sign Toulouse defender Jean-Clair Todibo. The report further states that the club president Jean-François Soucasse will freeze the 18-year-old out after he rejected a large pay offer.
If he does not commit his future to Toulouse anytime soon, the youngster will be available for free in the January window.
The French club lost star centre-back Issa Diop to West Ham United in the summer and it goes without saying that their defence received a major blow. They did not sign a replacement but Todibo has certainly worked wonders in his absence. He has effectively filled Diop’s void and has put in some fine performances in the Ligue 1.
Although he is quite young, Todibo has starred quite consistently for his club in the ongoing season. In 10 French top-flight starts, the teenager has scored a goal and registered a pass success rate of 84.6%. He has also won an average of 2.5 aerial duels per game.
As far as his defensive numbers are concerned, Todibo has averaged 2.1 tackles, 1.4 interceptions and 6.2 clearances per game. These numbers are quite impressive and he does seem like a star for the future. And he could certainly unlock his potential under a manager of Jurgen Klopp’s calibre.
Over the course of his managerial career, Klopp has worked with and extracted the best out of numerous youth players and there is no reason why he cannot do the same for Todibo.
Presently, Liverpool have the likes of Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and the charismatic Virgil van Dijk as centre-back options. Gomez and van Dijk have partnered up well to stabilize the Reds’ defence and they do look a lot stronger when compared to the previous term.
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In fact, Gomez is a bustling young talent as well but given the way Klopp has pushed him to do his best, he can definitely work in a similar manner with Todibo. With experienced defenders like van Dijk, Lovren and Matip in the mix, Liverpool would do well by signing the young Ligue 1 star.
