Welcome back to TalkBarca. Today, we are bringing you the latest transfer news of Todibo who left Barcelona on loan. Yes, you heard that right. Our promising young center back Todibo has joined FC Schalke 04 on a loan until the end of the season. Todibo is now the second player to leave the club in the January Transfer Window in search of more playing time and this news hurt many fans.
Todibo joined Barcelona from Toulouse but didn’t get any significant playing time under Ernesto Valverde. He has appeared in just 5 matches for Barcelona since he joined the club in 2019. Now, he is set to advance in his career with Schalke. I wish him the best of luck and hope he will return as a better player. Let’s now talk about the details of the transfer.
Todibo Transfer Details:
Schalke has paid 1.5 Million Euros to Barcelona to avail the services of Todibo until the end of the season. Schalke will pay the wages of Todibo throughout his loan spell. The important thing to note is that Schalke has a buying option to make this move permanent for a transfer fee of 25 Million Euro plus 5 Million Euro in addons. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona have the buy-back option to get Todibo back for a transfer fee of 50 Million Euro plus 10 Million Euro in addons.
To be honest, I don’t like the way our board has finalized this deal. Personally, I am happy for his loan move because he will get some game time. However, I wasn’t expecting a buying option in the loan deal like Alena’s loan deal. My bigger concern is that if Schalke activates their clause to buy Todibo, we would have to pay 60 Million Euros in total to get a player that is already our own. This is not how intelligent people conduct their business. Anyways, considering the budget of Schalke, I don’t think they would activate their buying option at the end of the season simply because they have a small budget and cannot afford to spend it on a single player. So, let’s hope our Todibo gets back to Barcelona at the end of his loan spell.
What’s Next?
Todibo’s exit means that Barcelona is much more vulnerable in its defense than before. We have lost our depth in our defense which can haunt us in case of an injury. Now we have Pique, Umititi, and Lenglet as our options in the Center Back. We know that Gerrard Pique is very rusty and slow. The same is the case with Clement Lenglet. Both of these Center Backs are heavily lacking in coordination and they are not picking each other’s rhythm.
Umtiti is another option. We know about his quality as a defender. However, we cannot reply on Umtiti simply because he has become very injury prone. I don’t remember the last time when I saw Umtiti playing 3-4 consecutive games. Most importantly, even when he is free of injury, he lacks match sharpness and makes silly mistakes. Therefore, Todibo’s departure from the club has added more to the defensive crisis our club is facing. We need to make sure that we buy good quality Centre Back as our backup. Our priority must be to have 15-18 players of extreme quality in our squad, and only then winning trophies look possible.
Verdict:
So, this is it from our side guys. What do you make of the loan deal of Todibo? What’s your opinion on Buying Clause and Buy-Back Clause in the Transfer deal? Do you think, he will come back to the club? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Until next time, Visca El Barca!
