Stoke City midfielderGiannelli Imbula is reportedly keen to leave the club in order to return to France, according to latest reports fromthe Mirror.
The Belgian-born French midfielder has fallen out of favour with Stoke manager Mark Hughes, failing to make a start since the turn of the year and not even making the squad for last weekend's 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough. In fact, his last start came in the 4-1 defeat to Liverpool in December.
Imbula has revealed that hehas spoken to Hughes about his lack of game-time, although he wasn't satisfied with how those talks went, saying:
"I've already spoken to the manager about what is happening but it didn't come to much.Things haven't turned out quite how I wanted at Stoke and it's certain that I'll need to have more discussions with the club.
"I still have ambitions and objectives and we will have to see what happens at the end of the season.All I can do at the moment is keep working hard in training and wait for my chance."
Imbula's former club Marseille have been touted as the most likely destination should the 24-year-old head back to his homeland. Imbula spent two years at the Ligue 1 club between 2013 and 2015 and he still holds fond memories of his time there, saying:
"It's the club that allowed me to make my name in France and I hold very good memories from my time there.But I will not talk about a move back there or to other clubs. That is something to think about in the summer."
Record Stoke signing Giannelli Imbula hints he could return to Marseille at the end of the seasonhttps://t.co/cbLuF8rttW pic.twitter.com/EeyZK6y60n
Although Imbula may have hopes of leaving Stoke, he still has four years remaining on the contract he signed when he joined from Porto in January 2016.