Pascal Chimbonda was one of the surprise successes of the 2005-2006 Premier League season. He had joined Wigan Athletic from Bastia as a complete unknown, but had taken to the English top flight like a duck to water, earned himself a France cap, and was snapped up by Spurs for £4.5 million as a result. Chimbonda spent two years at White Hart Lane - even winning the League Cup with the Lilywhites when he started in the 2-1 final victory over Chelsea but moved to Sunderland in 2008, where he joined former Spurs team-mates Teemu Tainio and Steed Malbranque. After a single season with the Black Cats, Harry Redknapp re-signed Chimbonda for Spurs along with fellow former players Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane, but he played only five games for the club before being sold to Blackburn Rovers a move that would see his career take a dramatic and abrupt turn for the worse. He moved to Queens Park Rangers and barely saw the pitch at Loftus Road and was moved on to Doncaster Rovers, where he signed a short-term deal. Having failed to cement a first-team place at the Keepmoat Stadium, he was released spending the entire 2012-2013 season as a free agent. He was so desperate for football that he signed for Northern Premier League Division One South side Market Drayton Town on another short-term deal before failing to impress on a trial with Tranmere Rovers. He continued to play for Market Drayton (admirably without being paid) before signing for Carlisle United in Englands third tier. He spent a few months in Cumbria, but was released at the start of 2014. He returned home to France to find a club and now plays in the French second tier with AC Arles-Avignon.
