Gilbert Imbula Wanga (born 12 September 1992) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who last played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

for Portuguese club

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

. Born in Belgium, Imbula played youth football for France, before changing international allegiance to the DR Congo national football team. Imbula began his career with French club

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...

, where he progressed from the youth teams to make his professional debut in October 2009. He helped Guingamp to promotion from the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. He established himself as a key member of the Guingamp team in Ligue 2 and one of the stand out players in the division which saw him win the Ligue 2 Player of the Year Award. This prompted Ligue 1 side

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

to sign Imbula for a fee of €7 million. He spent two seasons at the Stade Vélodrome before joining Portuguese side

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in the summer of 2015 for €20 million. After seven months at Porto, Imbula joined English club Stoke City for a club record £18.3 million. Despite making a promising start at Stoke, he had a poor 2016–17 season and was sent on loan to Ligue 1 side

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

in 2017–18,

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

in 2018–19 and

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

side Lecce in 2019–20.

Club career

Early career

Imbula was born in

Vilvoorde Vilvoorde (, french: Vilvorde ; historically known as ''Filford'' in English) is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the city of Vilvoorde proper with its two outlying quarters of Koningslo ...

, Belgium, to Congolese parents, who moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

when he was young. Growing up he played youth team football with US Argenteuil, Racing Club,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

before moving to

when he was 15. Imbula progressed through the youth team at the Stade de Roudourou and made his professional debut in Ligue 2 on 16 October 2009 in a game against

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, becoming the youngest player in Ligue 2 history at 17 years, 1 month and 4 days of age. He played 33 times in

, scoring twice and helping Guingamp gain an instant promotion back to Ligue 2. He made 30 appearances in 2011–12 as the side finished seventh which was followed by promotion to Ligue 1 in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, with Imbula making 36 appearances, scoring two goals and he was named Ligue 2 Player of the Year.

Marseille

In July 2013, Imbula joined

for a fee of €7 million, including bonuses. He played 37 times for Marseille in 2013–14 as the team and Imbula failed to make a significant impact, finishing outside of the European places in sixth spot. However, under the management of

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

in 2014–15, Imbula formed an effective understanding with

André Ayew André Morgan Rami Ayew (; born 17 December 1989), also known as Dede Ayew in Ghana, is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd and captain of the Ghana national team. He is the second-born son of t ...

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He ...

and

Dimitri Payet Dimitri Payet (; born 29 March 1987) is a French professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Marseille. A set-piece specialist, known for his accurate, bending free kicks, he primarily plays as an attacking midfielder, and is described a ...

where they finished in fourth place in the league table and were the second highest goalscorers with 76 goals.

Porto

On 1 July 2015, Imbula signed a five-year contract with Portuguese side

for a club record fee of €20 million. He struggled, however, to settle in Portugal and reports emerged that Porto would be willing to let him leave in the 2016 January transfer window.

Stoke City

On 1 February 2016, Imbula joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club Stoke City on a five-and-a-half year contract for a club record €24 million (£18.3 million). He made his Stoke debut on 6 February 2016 in a 3–0 defeat against Everton. Imbula scored his first goal for Stoke on 13 February in a 3–1 win over Bournemouth. He made a good start to his Stoke career and earned the praise of teammate Geoff Cameron. He scored in a 2–1 victory against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on the final day of the 2015–16 season, helping Stoke to a ninth-place finish. Stoke and Imbula made a poor start to the 2016–17 campaign and he was dropped from the side by manager

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

. He returned to the side in December and January before again being left out of the squad by Hughes. Imbula made 14 appearances for Stoke in 2016–17 and it was reported that the club would be willing to cut their losses on Imbula in the summer transfer window. Whilst at Stoke, Imbula's attitude prompted some heavy criticism from some of his club teammates.

Glen Johnson Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (''né'' Stephens; born 23 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played predominantly as a right back. Johnson began his career at West Ham United, spending time on loan at Millwall, and was ...

spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live in March 2019 about an occasion where Imbula subbed himself in a pre-season game after someone did not pass him the ball, only to sub himself back on again ten minutes later. Imbula's contract with Stoke was terminated on 22 February 2020.

Loan to Toulouse

In August 2017, Imbula joined

on loan for the 2017–18 season. Imbula played 34 times for Toulouse, helping them remain in Ligue 1 after they defeated Ajaccio in a relegation play-off.

Loan to Rayo Vallecano

On 30 August 2018, Imbula moved to

side

on a one-year loan deal. Imbula played 24 times for Rayo in 2018–19 as the team finished bottom of the table, scoring once with a long-range strike in a 0-1 win at

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in ...

on his 14 September 2018 debut.

Loan to Lecce

Imbula joined

side Lecce on loan for the 2019–20 season. On 21 February 2020 he received the consensual termination of the contract with the Italian club.

Sochi

On 3 March 2020, Imbula signed for

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

PFC Sochi Football Club Sochi (russian: Футбольный клуб Сочи, Futbolny Klub Sochi), is a Russian professional football club based in Sochi. The club is playing its home matches at the 47,000-capacity Fisht Stadium. History FC Sochi was ...

. He left Sochi in late July 2020. After leaving Sochi, Imbula was allowed to use the training facilities of former club

, but ultimately he wasn't offered a contract by the Ligue 2 side.

Portimonense

On 9 March 2021, Imbula signed for Primeira Liga club Portimonense S.C.

International career

Born to Congolese parents, Imbula was born in Belgium but raised in France, making him eligible for any of these three countries. In 2013, he received a call up from France under-21 team to compete in the

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

. In October 2015, however, Imbula publicly expressed his desire to play for the Belgium national team, for which reason he has required authorization to FIFA to do so. Imbula was called up to the DR Congo national team squad to face Tanzania on 14 March 2018, but rejected the call-up. One year later, Imbula was named in the provisional DR Congo squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

. However, he was not included in the final 23-man squad after his international clearance was not processed in time. He received international clearance in October 2019. Imbula debuted for the DR Congo in a 0–0

2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football champion ...

tie with

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

on 14 November 2019.

Style of play

Imbula plays as a

and has been described by

as being able to play in centre midfield: "He's a defensive midfielder and he's got a lot of attributes in terms of understanding that role, but he can play in a three as well. I like that flexibility in players because it gives me more options. He's a good young player with good power, good ability on the ball, and a good range of passing."

Personal life

Imbula married his fiancée, Linda, in the summer of 2016. Imbula was caught speeding in Stockport in March 2016.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * UNFP Ligue 2

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

*UNFP Ligue 2

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

References

External links