€20m Manchester United target heading for Schalke loan
Reported Manchester United target Jean-Clair Todibo is heading for Bundesliga side Schalke on loan until the end of the season.
The Barcelona defender is understood to have travelled to Germany on Sunday night and German paper Bild have a video of the player arriving at Dusseldorg airport.
The 19-year-old met up with Schalke officials before heading in a taxi heading for Gelsenkirchen.
The report claimed United representatives travelled to Catalonia in December to hold talks with the LaLiga champions over a move for the France U20 player.
Todibo has struggled for minutes since agreeing to join Barcelona in January from Toulouse as a free agent. Todibo only officially joined Barca on July 1 and he has struggled to get game time with just three appearances this season.
Todibo is looking for more first-team action to get his career back on track. he was forced to play with the youth team at Toulouse after a dispute with the club’s management and so he was short of match fitness when he arrived at Camp Nou. He has subsequently failed to impress Ernesto Valverde who apparently prefers Ronald Araujo.
United were prepared to offer around €20m for the centre-back, but Barca wanted a buyback option. Apparently though United were not keen on the clause and that could well explain why the deal never got any further.
AC Milan were also keen on Todibo, but Mundo Deportivo via Calciomercato reported that Barca were not willing to let the defender leave without adding a buyback clause.
Now though the make up of the deal appears to have changed with Schalke proposing a temporary loan deal, which may well include purchasing option.
