The day before Covid arrived in Italy, on February 21, 2020, Giannelli Imbula said goodbye to Lecce and Italy. He did it after six months of absolute flop, on loan from Stoke City. He will terminate his contract with both the Giallorossi and the English. The brief statement did not even wish him luck for his professional continuation. “US Lecce announces that it has consensually terminated the contractual relationship with the footballer Giannelli Imbula”. Brief but intense, in short, not like his presence in Salento.
Also because in January he had rejected several offers. The first one was from Hebei Fortune, a Chinese club that, however, was seen as a possible problem due to Coronavirus. Hence the no to the experience in the Chinese Premier League and the possible arrival at Leganes. Here too, however, the situation does not come to fruition, as well as at Gaziantespor, with the transfer that falls through on January 31 and the Congolese himself who ends up directly out of the Lecce project.
Yet Imbula had been a star at Olympique Marseille, so much so that he managed to entice Porto to spend 23 million euros for his registration. After six less than extraordinary months he ended up at Stoke City, for another 24 million. After Lecce he ended up in Russia, 1 appearance. Then Guingamp, zero, Portimonense, three. Last year, at Istanbulspor, he played four games in the Turkish Super Lig. But it seems that his glory days are now over. Today Giannelli Imbula turns 32.