An Instagram post from Jean-Clair Todibo has got West Ham fans excited about his potential return this weekend

Jean-Clair Todibo looks set to return to the West Ham squad against Brentford tomorrow after having missed all five matches under Graham Potter so far due to injury.

The Frenchman has had a strange start to his West Ham career, he arrived quite late in the summer window as he was holding out for a move to Juventus, it was common knowledge that he preferred a move to Turin over East London. However, he arrived at the London Stadium looking thrilled but it’s gone mostly down hill from there.

At first, Lopetegui didn’t play Todibo because he was said to be short of fitness, he didn’t really have a pre-season at OGC Nice before making his move to the London Stadium. He then came in the team and had a couple of decent displays as we beat Ipswich 4-1 and drew 0-0 with Everton. However, he did play in the team when we went through the run of heavy defeats which ultimately ended up in the sacking of Lopetegui.

It was well documented that Todibo and Lopetegui didn’t always see eye to eye to say the least. In facts, it has been well publicised – and was confirmed by Lopetegui – that he and Todibo had a physical altercation at half-time of the humbling 5-2 defeat against Arsenal. Todibo was banished to the U23’s for a period of time as a result of this.

It then looked like Todibo was trying to get a move away from West Ham in January, Juventus were again in for a central defender and reportedly explored a move for Todibo again, even though he is halfway through a season long-loan at the Hammers. It was reported Todibo wanted to leave which is why his recent Instagram post is confusing to some fans.

A post on Instagram from Todibo of him training was captioned: “Back to training with the team, come on!” with a Hammers emoji suggests that maybe he is happier at the club now Lopetegui is gone. Crucially, though, he also went out of his way to tag the post as his ‘Home’. This does not seem like a player that is desperate for a move away from West Ham.

According to reports, we have met the conditions of the deal that makes the Todibo deal permanent, so we just need to stay up and he will become a permanent West Ham player. It will be interesting to see what happens in the summer. Will he try and force a move away?

I personally think Todibo has a massive future at the club, he has the potential to fit into Graham Potter’s back 3 perfectly. His skillset makes him the perfect right-sided defender in the three, he’s quick, good in the air and a very underrated passer. If we can keep him fit with Kilman and Cresswell next to him, we could start to see Potter’s defensive system start to take shape.