Schalke: Jean-Clair Todibo has made the biggest impact in 2020

FC Schalke 04 may not be able to hold onto center back Jean-Clair Todibo beyond the 2019-2020 season, but he’s been the biggest impact player this year.

As FC Schalke 04 fans await word of when the 2019-2020 Bundesliga season could potentially resume play, thoughts of the club’s future remain the focus. And FC Barcelona loan signing Jean-Clair Todibo could be a part of Die Knappen’s future if it were possible to extend his loan or even scrounge up the money to sign him permanently.

Since the latter option seems unrealistic at this point, Schalke fans will hope that the team can come to an agreement with La Blaugrana enabling them to get one more season out of the talented center back.

Because in 2020, Todibo has been the Royal Blues’ biggest impact player thus far. Hence why he was named the team’s Player of the Month for February.

Here’s how good Todibo was in February. He didn’t start a single game and yet was still named the Player of the Month, on the strength of his wonderful defending. Per WhoScored.com, Todibo had five tackles and 10 interceptions in the three games in February in which he played more than 45 minutes. His first appearance of the month against Hertha Berlin cannot be used, since he literally only played one minute of regulation as a substitute.

Todibo can do it all in defense. He’s a quality passer, showing his experience playing in the defensive midfield. The France international is even better on the ball, pulling off tricks and showing confident dribbling to calmly get out of sticky situations, even when pinned near the corner flag.

A hard-working defender, Todibo reads the game in a more advanced manner than the average 20-year-old center back, as evidenced by his back-to-back games with four interceptions against Mainz and FC Köln. He was clearly the best player in that Mainz clean sheet, absolutely dominating all areas of the pitch.

The epitome of a modern-day center back, Todibo had another quality performance against TSG Hoffenheim in the final game Schalke played before the Bundesliga’s postponement. He recorded five tackles in that 1-1 result, drawing two fouls and recording a second straight game with more than 90 percent of his passes completed to demonstrate offensive output.

Todibo has a world of potential at 20 and with all the tactical, technical, and physical traits to be a world-class center back. It’s unclear if Schalke will get to have him in 2020-2021, but, for now, fans of the Royal Blues can consider Todibo the most impactful player of the year 2020 thus far. And it looks like there could still be more to come from the Barcelona man.