Stoke City midfielder Gianelli Imbula has organised a football tournament for the teenagers of Argenteuil, the area outside of Paris where he grew up. The website Hype Soul has covered the event that happened over the weekend, and had a chat with the player, who talked about his career at the moment.
On his transfer from FC Porto, where he was the club’s biggest buy and left after only seven months, Imbula said: “Many things happened at Porto. After all, football is like that. I’ve turned the page for some time now, I prefer to stay focused on what’s to come at Stoke City.
“I have no regrets. What happened, happened, and now it is over. If I went to Porto, it was also a choice on my part”.
The player seems to be much happier at Stoke City now, and had a lot of praise for the club: “The adaptation has been good. I was very well received by the staff, the players and the fans, and that was important. As a player, it’s good to feel affection from the club and its surroundings. This is what helped me to adapt to English football so quickly, I think.”
Imbula was also asked to compare the three leagues he’s played in the past seasons: “The French league is a bit more closed than the other two. The teams calculate a lot, I think. In Portugal, it is different because there is a lower level compared to the teams that play for the top of the table like Sporting, Benfica, Porto and Braga.“
“In England, however, the league is quite open. Everyone wants to win, everybody wants to score. They don’t necessarily play better, but there is more energy.”
