After a loan-swap deal was linked between QPR and Marseille for Joey Barton, what can we tell you about the versatile Cameroonian?
With QPR reportedly seeking a swap deal seeing Joey Barton go to Marseille with Stephane M’Bia moving in the opposite direction, who is the Cameroonian and how good is the move for QPR?
1. Stephane was born in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde and moved to Doula to play at the Kadji Sports Academy when he was 17 years old.
2. He has a younger brother, Franck, who currently plays for FC St Gallen in the Swiss Challenge League.
3. Previous graduates of the academy include former Man United midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba, one time United target Carlos Kameni and former African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o.
4. He later signed for Rennes in 2004 being used as a holding midfield player and scoring his first goal in professional football in 2006 against Lyon.
5. In 2007 M’Bia was involved in a controversial case involving former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Milan Baros. M’Bia claimed he was the victim of racial abuse from the Czech forward and whilst Baros was handed a 3 match ban for abusive behaviour he was cleared of racism.
6. After 5 years at Rennes he rejected Everton in order to move to Marseille for £10.4million in 2009.
7. It was at Marseille he was transformed into a centre back. He had often been used as a utility player before, playing right wing and right back at times but this was the first time he had cemented his place in an entirely new position.
8. Stephane was a regular at junior international level and made the step up to the senior side in 2005. He has since gone on to represent his country 36 times scoring on 3 occasions.
9. QPR fans will hope to see Cape Verde pull off a real shock and defeat Cameroon in the 2 legged qualifying for The African Nations Cup in 2013. Potentially losing M’Bia along with Samba Diakite, Armand Traore and Adel Taarabt would not be ideal in a vital period of the season.
10. He has been linked with numerous moves during his time at Marseille with teams such as Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Chelsea reportedly interested in him due to his age and versatility; but now he will appear for the Hoops at Loftus Road after one of the best transfer deals this summer.
The general consensus so far is that this swap deal is a great one for QPR, what do you think?
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