Deadline day moves often see teams pay well over the odds and Stoke City’s January pick-up of Giannelli Imbula saw the Potters do exactly that.
Arriving at the Britannia Stadium (now the bet365 Stadium) at the age of 23, it appeared to be a promising signing by Mark Hughes. The young midfielder had already accumulated a number of professional appearances and had played for some big clubs across Europe.
In 2014-15, he made 37 Ligue 1 appearances for Marseille and that earned him a €20 million (£15.1 million) move to Porto, where he looked to take his game to the next level.
Unfortunately, his time at the Portuguese club was brief, as he spent only six months there, frequently being left out of the squad in the latter part of his stint.
Nevertheless, he had earned some valuable experience playing in the Champions League and Liga Portugal and this was enough to prompt Stoke City to make a move for him.
Disappointingly for the Potters, they never saw the Marseille version of Imbula and the midfielder has never rekindled the form that placed him in the limelight early in his career.
Giannelli Imbula’s £18.3 million move to Stoke City
Having struggled to settle in at Porto, the winter window provided the Dragões an opportunity to sell Imbula with it widely reported that they would be willing to let him depart in January 2016.
That he did and Hughes’ side picked up the then 23-year-old for a club-record £18.3 million, netting Porto a £3.3 million profit.
Signing a five-and-a-half-year contract, the Potters board had placed a large amount of faith in the youngster, believing he could be a huge part of their future.
This confidence was voiced in an interview with Stoke chairman, Peter Coates, who said this about the French youth international’s future to the BBC: “If he is as good as we think he is, he’ll keep his value. You’ve got to think of it from a business point of view. We want him to be worth more than we paid for him.”
Unsurprisingly, the playing staff had a similar feeling towards their statement signing, with Scottish midfielder Charlie Adam saying “he has the right qualities to play in England” and comparing him to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.
The midfielder seemed well set for a starring role in Hughes’ side and with the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautović at the club, the Potters were slowly building a strong side.
Giannelli Imbula never lived up to the hype
His first six months at the club gave false hope to fans, as he featured regularly and helped the team secure a ninth-place finish.
Scoring twice in 14 games, the midfielder appeared destined for a strong career at Stoke, but it soon became clear that he wasn’t particularly committed to being part of the team.
The following season, despite being regularly available, he accrued just 796 minutes of league action across 12 appearances, with Hughes often disappointed with the player’s application.
Nevertheless, when he did play, his quality was evident, but he failed to show it consistently enough to earn praise from the manager.
| Giannelli Imbula Stoke City Career | |
|---|---|
| Active Years | 2016-2020 |
| Appearances | 28 |
| Minutes | 2,170 |
| Goals | 2 |
| Money per appearance | £653,571 |
Following this campaign, the midfielder went out on loan to Toulouse, Rayo Vallecano and Lecce, before he had his contract terminated by Stoke in February 2020. This concluded his four-year stay that saw little on-field impact and a lot of money lost.
Shay Given and Glen Johnson lay into Imbula
The story of a player with clear talent but a poor attitude is a familiar one in football, and the comments made by Shay Given and Glen Johnson about Imbula show the midfielder’s lack of professionalism.
Speaking to Off The Ball, Given said this about Imbula: “Imbula came in from Porto and he’s literally not tried since he’s been there. That’s a record signing for Stoke and Stoke’s not a massive club financially.
“How do you scout that (heart and desire)? He might look well at Porto. He might have a great past, he might have been great on the ball. He might have done this, done that, but he comes to a different country and doesn’t even learn how to say good morning to the rest of the team.
“Doesn’t want to learn the language, I mean, and doesn’t really want to play at Stoke.”
It wasn’t just Given disappointed with the midfielder either, as former Chelsea full-back Johnson revealed: “Stoke took it away from the genuine lads to try to sign superstars and got it horribly wrong. Then you had players who didn’t want to be at training, walking off the pitch, kicking balls about. I’ve seen stuff that I hadn’t seen before in my life.
“Giannelli Imbula subbed himself because someone didn’t pass him the ball. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was in a pre-season game and in training, I swear to you. Record signing.”
The lack of commitment shown by Imbula is damning, but the Potters’ hierarchy must also shoulder some responsibility, as they clearly failed to scout him thoroughly enough to justify an £18.3 million transfer.
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