Former Barcelona defender Jean-Clair Todibo has revealed that he feels his time at the club was beneficial, even if others regarded it as a ‘failure’, in his words.
Todibo, 23, joined Barcelona from Toulouse on a free transfer as an 18-year-old following a promising start to his career. However the central defender struggled to get a game under Ernesto Valverde, and left for Nice having made just 5 appearances, and bringing €8.5m to the Blaugrana in their hours of need.
Having been called up to the France squad, Todibo told Telefoot (via MD) that he was glad of the experience.
“As I didn’t play much at Barcelona, people said I had failed. I learned from my failure, so I prefer my story to be as it has been and not everything rosy.”
“In Nice, I feel confident and quite loved. I just wanted to be able to express myself and be able to play my football.”
He also revealed that he gets advice from another former Barcelona central defender.
“I talk a lot with (Lilian) Thuram, whom I respect a lot. He played in my position, so I talk to him.”
Barcelona have a 20% sell-on clause in Todibo’s contract, and were rubbing their hands together when Manchester United were linked with a €40m move for him. However Todibo was also clear that he did not want to ‘commit an error’ by joining United. No doubt having had the experience at Barcelona where he was the last in the door and not trusted by the manager, he will be careful over his next move.
He didn’t really fail as much as he was a victim of the numbers game. He wasn’t quite ready for the first team and there were better players at his position in the B team.
Sounds like he has his feet on the ground; self awareness is important for these young players and he seems to know what he can and can’t do at this stage of his career. Here’s hoping he keeps making progress.