West Ham complete €40m hijack of Man Utd target as Romano confirms ‘crazy saga over’

West Ham have successfully hijacked Juventus’ deal for Jean-Clair Todibo, who is now set to complete a medical ahead of his €40m transfer from Nice.

Reports had suggested Torino only had eyes for Juventus, but the Serie A giants have been beaten to the punch by West Ham after director Tim Steidten agreed to include a sell-on clause in the deal for the centre-back.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano took to X to confirm the ‘crazy saga’ is over.

He wrote: ‘Jean-Clair Todibo to West Ham, here we go! Exclusive scoop confirmed as hijack is completed. Understand Todibo, his agent and West Ham director Tim Steidten are flying to London right now! €40m on loan + obligation, sell-on clause included. Medical booked today.

‘Jean-Clair Todibo accepted West Ham proposal during the night and he will now land in London before lunch time. Tim Steidten offered easy obligation to buy clause (€40m almost guaranteed) and sell-on clause (key for Nice) to beat Juventus proposal. Crazy saga, over.’

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Todibo could have been a Manchester United player now, with Romano revealing last month that he was ‘99%’ a Red Devil before UEFA stepped in to rule out to stop the transfer.

Romano said: “Jean-Clair Todibo was 99% a new Manchester United player. Everything was done, also on the player’s side, then everything collapsed because of UEFA rules.

“UEFA denied the possibility for any player to join a club with the same ownership playing in the same European competition; so before the final at Wembley, Manchester United prepared everything to have Jean-Clair Todibo as a new player.

“Now, there is nothing ongoing. We had some reports that Manchester United would go legal for this one, but they are not true.

“Manchester United have already left the conversation for Todibo, there is no chance. But he was really almost there, almost done, to join Manchester United.”

United have also been dealt a blow in their bid to sign Mattijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich.

United reportedly made a ‘double offer’ for De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui last month, which left the players feeling ‘bemused’ after the €55m bid was ‘rejected’ by Bayern .

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano said earlier this week that the Red Devils remaining “confident” of getting the deal done, claiming “both players expect to join United this summer”.

But the deal may well now be off as Kicker claim Bayern have decided against signing Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah, who was set to replace De Ligt at the Allianz Arena.

Tah, who impressed in Leverkusen’s double-winning season under Xabi Alonso last term, was expected to make a £25m move to their rivals this summer, but ‘Bayern have chosen not to proceed with the transfer despite a verbal agreement on the fee’.

It’s claimed a ‘lack of conviction’ from sporting director Max Eberl to sign the defender – whose contract expires next summer – was key, though ‘the Bavarians were also surprised by Leverkusen putting a deadline on any move for Tah, with the German champions demanding any deal be completed by midnight last night’.

The report adds: ‘Bayern needed to offload players before making new signings, meaning with no deal for Tah on the horizon, their need to raise cash by selling De Ligt is less immediate’.