Imbula began his career with French club Guingamp, where he progressed from the youth teams to make his professional debut in October 2009.

[4] Growing up he played youth team football with US Argenteuil, Racing Club, Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Guingamp when he was 15.

[9][6] He played 37 times for Marseille in 2013–14 as the team and Imbula failed to make a significant impact, finishing outside of the European places in sixth spot.

However, under the management of Marcelo Bielsa in 2014–15, Imbula formed an effective understanding with André Ayew, André-Pierre Gignac and Dimitri Payet where they finished in fourth place in the league table and were the second highest goalscorers with 76 goals.

[6] On 1 July 2015, Imbula signed a five-year contract with Portuguese side Porto for a club record fee of €20 million.

[18] He scored in a 2–1 victory against West Ham United on the final day of the 2015–16 season, helping Stoke to a ninth-place finish.

[27] Imbula played 34 times for Toulouse, helping them remain in Ligue 1 after they defeated Ajaccio in a relegation play-off.

[29] Imbula played 24 times for Rayo in 2018–19 as the team finished bottom of the table,[28] scoring once with a long-range strike in a 0–1 win at SD Huesca on his 14 September 2018 debut.

[34] After leaving Sochi, Imbula was allowed to use the training facilities of former club Guingamp,[35] but ultimately he wasn't offered a contract by the Ligue 2 side.

[42] In October 2015, however, Imbula publicly expressed his desire to play for the Belgium national team, for which reason he has required authorization to FIFA to do so.

[43] Imbula was called up to the DR Congo national team squad to face Tanzania on 14 March 2018, but rejected the call-up.