the English club simply for sporting reasons. He also blamed his departure on the firing of Paris Saint-Germain's former manager Paul Le Guen with whom he shared a good relationship. Upon his arrival at Liverpool, Mavinga was placed onto the club's reserve team and played in the Premier Reserve League. During the latter part of the 2009–10 season, he began training with the club's senior team. On 23 August 2010, Mavinga admitted that he was frustrated at his lack of playing time on the senior team stating that, following the firing of Rafa Benítez, he was relegated back to training full-time with the reserve team by new manager Roy Hodgson. Loan to Genk On 21 December 2010, the Belgian media reported that Belgian Pro League club Genk had acquired Mavinga on loan for the rest of the season. Despite initial speculation of Mavinga verbally agreeing to join Turkish club Antalyaspor, the move to Genk was completed on 11 January 2011. On 13 February, Mavinga made his professional debut appearing as a substitute in a 2–0 victory over Standard Liège. On 17 May, Mavinga broke the jaw and fractured the nose of Standard Liège player Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez after accidentally kicking him in the face during the match. Rennes On 19 July 2011, Mavinga returned to France signing a four-year contract with Rennes. The transfer fee was priced at £1 million and Mavinga was assigned the number 3 shirt. On the opening game of the season, Mavinga made his debut for Rennes in a 4–0 loss against Montpellier. He since would be often used in first team in and out in his first season, having his playing time reduced and would be unused substitute in the matches. At the end of the season, Mavinga soon had a falling out with manager Frédéric Antonetti after taking exception to being made to train separately from the group. The following season, Belgian Pro League club Racing Genk, his former club he played whilst on loan, renewed their interests signing him and made a bid on him. However, Rennes rejected a bid for Mavinga, insisting Genk increase their bid for worth about four or six million euros for him. Instead, Genk ended their interest signing Mavinga, by signing Brian Hamalainen. Shortly after this, Mavinga would soon be more often, with his increased of playing time, playing in the left-back position. After his suspension from the national