When Stoke City bought Giannelli Imbula from Porto last February, it was seen as a coup.
After all, the French midfielder still had a lot of promise, and while things hadn’t worked out in Portugal, his time in his home country with Guingamp and Marseille showed exactly the type of player he could be when fully trusted.
Unfortunately for Mark Hughes, Imbula never recaptured his form, and the 24-year-old has only been used sporadically by the Stoke manager throughout the season. Now, with the season coming to an end, Hughes has made it clear an exit is on the cards.
Unless something changes over the summer, the midfielder’s future seems far from the bet365 Stadium, and a return to France could be the answer if L’Equipe are to be believed.
The French newspaper report on Friday that Nice, qualified for next season’s Champions League, have started to make moves to repatriate Imbula in the coming months.
Their club director, Julien Fournier, has enquired about the former Marseille star, as well as making contact with a few members of his entourage to try and get a direct line with him.
While this all sounds very promising for both Nice and Stoke fans, there are a few obstacles in the way, all financial.
Having spent £20.6m in the first place to acquire his services, the Potters are unlikely to want to make too much of a loss on him, especially since he has four years left on his current deal.
L’Equipe state €15m could do the trick, yet even that might be out of reach for Nice, who focus primarily on finding cheap talent, or free agents such as Dante and Mario Balotelli.
Furthermore, Imbula’s wages at Stoke are beyond what Nice are known to hand their players, meaning a wage cut could be necessary, with incentive bonuses added to balance everything out.
That’s what they did with Balotelli, and that’s worked out alright so far.
The thought is there from Nice, and moves have been made, but sealing the deal could prove difficult.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
