Pascal Chimbonda - Player Profile

Pascal, a Guadaloupe international, was Latics’ second Premiership signing arriving from Bastia, a team based on the French Mediterranean Island of Corsica. He signed on at the JJB Stadium on 8th July 2005 and put pen to paper on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around the £800,000 mark. He arrived shortly after the surprise moves of both Nicky Eaden and Ian Breckin to League One outfit Nottingham Forest. His signing was quite a coup for the club as he turned down the chance to sign for Marseille in preference to Latics. His first game in a Latics shirt was against Elite 3000 in a ‘behind closed doors’ friendly on 20th July 2005. The game was won 5-0 and was a part of Latics’ pre season Denmark training camp schedule.

He impressed on his return to England and it soon became quite clear that Latics had signed a very unorthodox, but brilliant, player. He made his Latics League debut on 14th August 2005 against Chelsea at the JJB Stadium, a game that Latics lost 1-0.

He became a cult figure at Latics, making 37+0 Premiership appearances and scoring twice. He was also a member of the team that played in the club’s first ever major Cup Final. He also became the first ever Latics player to feature in a top flight PFA Team of the Season when he was voted the best right back in the Premiership by his fellow professionals. Then came a bombshell. Within minutes of reaching the dressing room after Latics’ last league game of the season against Arsenal at Highbury, which incidentally, was the last game ever played at the venue, he shocked the whole club and the fans by handing in a written transfer request.

Chairman, Mr Whelan, slapped a £6.000.000 price tag on the player and insisted that if no club paid that for him, he would rot in the reserves for the remainder of his four year contract.

During the pre season of 2006/07 he was called into the French World Cup squad for Germany 2006, something he claimed he would never do whilst playing for Wigan. He made a further substitute appearance for Latics against Reading in a Premiership encounter which Latics won 1-0 at the JJB Stadium before signing for Tottenham Hotspur on 30th August 2006 for a club record £5.250.000 deal bringing an end to Chimbonda’s colourful Latics career.

He played 37+1 Premiership games for Latics scoring twice before signing for Tottenham Hotspur on 31st August 2006  for a fee of £4,500,000.

A bit of Pascal Chimbonda trivia – did you know that Pascal has represented two different countries at full international level?