In Barcelona, the left-back featured exclusively for Espanyol's B team in the Spanish Third Division, but he still did enough to catch the eye of Saint-Étienne coach Frederic Antonetti, who took him back to France, initially on loan, in 2003.Toulouse dropped into the UEFA Cup, with Ilunga making six appearances as Le Tef beat CSKA Sofia on away goals before falling at the group stage.After two months without playing a single minute and approaches from different European clubs (including Mallorca and Newcastle), Ilunga was linked interests from English Premier League side West Ham United.[3] Ilunga made his Hammers debut away at West Bromwich Albion on 13 September,[4] and quickly established himself as the club's first-choice left-back, after the sale of George McCartney to Sunderland.[22] After being released by Doncaster Rovers, Ilunga made a return to France by going on trial with clubs like Guingamp[23] and Brest[24] in the January transfer window.On 23 January 2013, Illunga signed for Rennes, the team he started his youth career, on a six-month deal and was also reunited with Antonetti, during their time at Saint-Étienne.[30] Ilunga was part of the Congolese 2004 African Nations Cup team, who finished bottom of their group in the first round of competition, thus failing to secure qualification for the quarter-finals.