Background
Imbula was born in Vilvoorde, Belgium, to Congolese parents, who moved to Paris when he was young.
Imbula was born in Vilvoorde, Belgium, to Congolese parents, who moved to Paris when he was young.
Imbula began his career with French club Guingamp where he progressed from the youth teams to make his professional debut in October 2009. He helped Guingamp to promotion from the Championnat National in 2010-2011. This prompted Ligue 1 side Marseille to sign Imbula for a fee of €7 million.
He spent two seasons at the Stade Vélodrome before joining Portuguese side Porto in the summer of 2015 for €20 million.
After seven months at Porto, Imbula joined English Premier League side Stoke City for a club record £18.3 million. Guingamp
Growing up he played youth team football with United States Argenteuil, Racing Club, Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Guingamp when he was 15.
Imbula progressed through the youth team at the Stade du Roudourou and made his professional debut in Ligue 2 on 16 October 2009 in a game against Dijon Foreign and Commonwealth Office, becoming the youngest player in Ligue 2 history at 17 years, 1 month and 4 days of age. He played 33 times in 2010-2011, scoring twice helping Guingamp gain an instant promotion back to Ligue 2.
Marseille
In July 2013, Imbula joined Marseille for a fee of €7 million, including bonuses.
Imbula played 37 times for Marsille in 2013-2014 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 in 2014-2015, Imbula formed an effective understanding with Andre Ayew, Andre-Pierre Gignac and Dimitri Payet where they finished in 4th place and were the second highest goalscorers with 76 goals. Porto
On 1 July 2015, Imbula signed a five-year contract with Portuguese side Porto for a fee of €20 million.
However he struggled 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 club Stoke City on a five-and-a-half year contract for a club record £18.3 million. He made his Stoke debut on 6 February 2016 in a 3–0 defeat against Everton.
Born to Congolese parents, Imbula was born in Belgium but has grown up in France, making him eligible for any of these three countries. In 2013, he received a call up from France U21 to compete in the Toulon Tournament.
However, in October 2015, Gianelli Imbula publicly expressed his desire to play for the Belgium national team, for which reason he has required authorization to Fédération internationale de football association to do southern
Imbula plays as a defensive midfielder and has been described by Mark Hughes 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.".