Pascal Chimbonda

42
Pascal Chimbonda bigraphy, stories - Footballer

Pascal Chimbonda : biography

21 February 1979 –

Pascal Chimbonda (born 21 February 1979) is a French footballer who plays as a defender. Chimbonda is currently a free agent after leaving Doncaster Rovers.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur
  • League Cup: 2007–08

Club career

Early career

Chimbonda was born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe and began his career at Le Havre in France in 1999, making his debut against Strasbourg on 29 April 2000. He spent four years with the club, until Le Havre were relegated to Ligue 2, when he transferred to Bastia. During his stay at Bastia, Chimbonda received racist taunts from his own fans after a heavy loss against Saint-Étienne; this may have contributed to his leaving the club. However, his former teammates at Bastia firmly denied Chimbonda’s accusations of racism.

After Bastia were relegated in July 2005, he left the club, turning down an offer from Marseille, and moved to Wigan Athletic for £500,000 on a three-year contract. He cited the fact that he was "ready for a new challenge and coming to Wigan is the perfect opportunity to test myself against the best players in the world" as the reason for selecting Wigan Athletic.

Wigan Athletic

After signing for Wigan Athletic, Chimbonda was one of the stars of the Latics’ first ever season in the Premier League. He played 44 times for the club in all competitions and featured in all but one game of the 2005–06 Premier League season. He scored two goals for the club, both in the 2005–06 season, in consecutive league games against Fulham and Portsmouth. After a hugely successful first season in English football, Chimbonda was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2005–06 season, having been voted as best right back in the Premiership, ahead of Gary Neville, Steve Finnan and Paulo Ferreira. Whilst at Wigan he started in the 2006 Football League Cup Final.

He was linked with a move to a range of clubs and was subject to an offer from West Ham United based on a clause in his contract that allowed him to switch clubs for an offer of £1 million – which was subsequently renegotiated and removed. On the final day of the 2005–06 season, he handed in a transfer request after Wigan lost 4–2 to Arsenal in the final game played at Arsenal’s old Highbury ground, only six months after renegotiating his contract for a further four years. This riled the Wigan management, who set a high price – higher than many prospective buyers were willing to pay – and informed Chimbonda that he could "play in the reserves until his contract is over", if he was not bought.

Tottenham Hotspur replied with a £2 million transfer offer and then a £3 million offer; however, both were rejected, as Wigan had stated that any offers below £6 million would not be accepted, despite previously stating that, according to his agent Willie McKay, "they wouldn’t step in the player’s way if a top club came in for him". Further, according to McKay, £3 million "was a terrific offer", and Chimbonda was still hopeful of a move to Tottenham. Chimbonda has stated that "moving to Tottenham will help me take the next step forward", and has called Wigan a "stepping stone". West Ham also made a bid, reportedly £4 million, for the player, though this was also turned down because it fell short of the asking price.

He made his last appearance for Wigan on 26 August 2006 in a win against Reading as a substitute. He replaced Emile Heskey in the 79th minute, Heskey having scored the winning goal earlier. He eventually joined Tottenham on transfer deadline day, 31 August 2006, after a summer of negotiations.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 31 August 2006, Wigan Athletic accepted a bid from Tottenham Hotspur of £4.5 million, with the transfer being completed just before midnight. He made his Tottenham debut against Manchester United on 9 September 2006.

Chimbonda played in a 2–1 victory over Chelsea in which it later transpired he had played on with knee ligament damage resulting from a strong challenge by Frank Lampard in the opening minutes of the game. Tottenham manager Martin Jol singled out Chimbonda after the match as the best example of the players’ spirit and character that day. However, on 14 January 2007 Chimbonda was involved in a controversial incident in his team’s match against Newcastle United when he slapped Nicky Butt in the face with his glove; an incident that provoked a skirmish between the members of the two teams.