Barcelona negotiating to speed up Todibo transfer to be effective immediately - report

Despite securing a summer arrival for the defender, Barça do not want to wait

FC Barcelona have officially announced the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo on a free transfer, which would allow the young defender to join as soon as his contract with Toulouse is up on June 30th.

Except, Barça are reportedly still negotiating to bring the young defender to the club right away, rather than having to wait until the end of the season, according to RMC Sport.

Yesterday, Sin Concesiones reported the same news, that Barcelona would try to sign Todibo this winter rather than wait for the player to arrive in the summer. However, the club officially announced the agreement with Todibo today, saying he would arrive on a free on July 1st.

But RMC Sport says that despite the announcement, the club’s intention is still to speed up the process.

One possible reason is that the Frenchman has been frozen out by his club, Toulouse, for running down his contract and leaving for free. Barcelona could pay a fee to make the transfer right away and loan him to another club in the hopes that he arrives to Barça in good shape next summer, rather than having not played for six months.

Another possible reason is that Barça have two injured centerbacks - Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen. Jeison Murillo was signed from Valencia as emergency cover, but perhaps the team would want to have even more insurance in case either Umtiti or Vermaelen has further injury trouble. Then, they could bring in Todibo into the squad right away.

Source: barcablaugranes.com