West Ham United ‘finalise £36m deal’ after Brighton defeat – BBC
West Ham fell to another disappointing defeat as they were beaten by Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.
West Ham are now 17th in the Premier League table after falling to their 16th loss of the season, with Carlos Baleba’s late long-range strike consigning them to defeat.
It was another poor performance from Graham Potter’s side, with the Englishman failing to turn things around since arriving at West Ham mid-season.
A big summer transfer window will be necessary to fix West Ham’s issues, and they are now about to complete one deal.
West Ham to confirm Jean-Clair Todibo signing
French defender Jean-Clair Todibo started against Brighton, but delivered an underwhelming performance as he was part of a back three which conceded three times.
Todibo joined West Ham on a loan deal with a conditional obligation to buy last summer, and the condition was that the permanent option would be activated if the Hammers avoided relegation.
| Stat (Premier League) | Jean-Clair Todibo |
| Appearances | 25 |
| Starts | 18 |
| Minutes | 1625 |
Despite losing to Brighton, West Ham avoided relegation as Ipswich Town fell to a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle which confirmed that they will drop back down to the Championship.
The BBC (27 April) have now reported that as a result of Ipswich’s relegation, Todibo’s obligation to buy, for a fee of around £36million will now be activated, with the deal set to be completed imminently.
Todibo needs to improve at West Ham
Todibo has struggled at West Ham so far, making 25 appearances in an injury-hit season, and this has been a very disruptive campaign in his career.
The Frenchman fell out of favour with Julen Lopetegui, and has been in and out of the starting XI under Potter.
The 25-year-old arrived with a lot of hype, but is yet to fully convince West Ham fans that he is a viable long-term solution, and the club have now had to fork out a huge fee to keep him.
It will now be hoped that after a year of adaptation, Todibo can have a positive campaign next season, but there will now be big pressure on him to deliver given the fee which has been spent on the centre-back.