Everton are looking at signing OGC Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo in an attempt to bolster their defensive options.

What’s the word?

That’s according to GOAL, who claim that both Everton and Manchester United are battling it out over the centre-back.

The French outfit are reportedly willing to accept a deal should it be deemed acceptable. It is expected an offer of €20m (£17m) would be sufficient.

AC Milan, Newcastle, and Sevilla are amongst the other interested parties.

 Could be bye-bye to Yerry Mina

Yerry Mina is someone who has been plagued by injuries since he joined Everton, however, when he has played he has been instrumental.

In the 2020/21 season, the team had a 58.3% win ratio, which dropped to 21.4% in his absence. He is clearly a brilliant defender, but his injury history makes him useless to the team when he is always on the treatment table.

The £120k-per-week goliath’s presence needs replacing, especially if he is to leave as been rumoured this year, and in Todibo they could have found a cut-price alternative.

Last season the Frenchman impressed in his first season as a permanent OGC Nice player; he managed 40 appearances across both league and cup competitions. Immediately this stands out, as Mina has only made 79 appearances in four years at Everton.

Not only is he present, but the 22-year-old offered up an average SofaScore rating of 7.09. He was consistently brilliant, and this rating saw him ranked third amongst his teammates.

Todibo would settle brilliantly beside the hulking figure of James Tarkowski and could provide the speed and finesse needed to go alongside him.

He did rank in the 92^nd percentile for progressive carries and 85^th percentile for progressive passes, whilst also boasting an 87.8% pass completion rate.

His stats do back up his own feeling towards his ability, as his agent claimed that “he already thought he was a phenomenon” upon first joining Barcelona.

Perhaps his season at Nice, where they only mustered a fifth-place finish, will have humbled him to the point where he is ready to put his head down and work hard for Everton.

He obviously does have all the abilities to be a top centre-back. If he can sort his attitude out, which his stint in France seems to have, he could come to Goodison Park and replace the instrumental yet injury-prone Mina in defence.

AND, in other news: Everton get green light to sign "incredible" £28k-p/w gem, he'd be their own Gallagher.