Barcelona youngster Jean-Clair Todibo has revealed Manchester United passed on the opportunity to sign him after having trials as a teenager.
The 20-year-old began his quest to become a professional at Toulouse, staying with them for three years before Barcelona came calling.
It would have been somewhat a different career path now for the centre-back had the bosses at Old Trafford decided to snap him up before his move to the French side.
Coming from Les Lilas, Todibo enjoyed his short stint with the Red Devils but a bit disturbed how his time in England yielded to nothing after the club decided against signing him permanently.
“It was crazy, I went from Les Lilas to United,” Todibo told Onze Mondial. “It was a dream that was coming true when I hadn’t done anything, really. It was just a trial. Everything went well, but I wasn’t taken.
“I don’t know why my trial didn’t lead to anything. I still haven’t received an explanation to this day.”
Since making the move to Spain, the France international has not had much chances as he would have hoped for. He was limited to just five appearances for the Catalan side, with Gerrard Pique and Clement Lenglet being preferred.
Todibo spent the second half of the 2019/20 campaign on loan at Schalke 04, where he played 10 games before injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.
But the young centre-back believes he deserved more game time this season with Barcelona, adding that he was treated unfairly at some point in time.
He said: “For me, this season, I deserved more playing time.
“The first six months, when I arrived, I did not mind not playing because in training, I saw that I didn’t have the level yet, but this year, I would have deserved to play more. I didn’t make a big deal out of it because it was the choice of the coach and I understand.
“If I’m a coach, I prefer to put Pique to Todibo. He has a real track record, he’s a great player – but I think I could have played certain matches.”
