Scouting Romania

Three central defenders have signed for the Bucharest clubs, but every single transfer has a rather debatable reasoning:

A rotation player for Unirea Urziceni, Mehmedovic has had his share of quality matches

Ersin Mehmedovic to Dinamo – the Red Dogs have had such a poor defensive record in the first half of the season that any addition would seem good enough. Moti, who was once considered Serie A material, has been out of form for more than a year, but Garat, Grigore and Scarlatache were so poor or inconsistent that he never lost the first spot in the pecking order of a former defender, Ioan Andone, who is now in charge of the team. Signing the towering Serbian centre-back seems, from this point of view, justified, but the 29 years old, who comes after two great years and a miserable half of year with Unirea Urziceni, will only provide backup to the first choice pair: (the newly and contested international) Dragos Grigore – Cosmin Moti. So, why not promote a young(er) lad, considering that Dinamo’s most realistic chance to earn a place in Europe remains the Romanian Cup? It’s even harder to explain it, as we were experiencing the rejuvenation of the pack, in all the other areas…

The 30 years old's move to Steaua was done with the help of his former manager, Victor Piturca

Valentin Iliev to Steaua – The Bulgarian has played a solid first half of season in Romania, for Universitatea Craiova, and moves to Bucharest for not-such-a-free transfer, as he gets a hefty 250.000 Euros bonus on the spot, a trick to make him look like he’s not earning than the rest of the squad, with his 10.000 Euros/month deal that stretches until June 2012. In truth, Steaua’s chiefs are only fooling themselves. They’re dribbling their own decision to cut down wages, which forced good players like Kapetanos or Angelov away from the club, and preparing to replace a high earner like Geraldo with another one, of the same age, but, in my opinion, not in quite the same class. Not to mention that, at the moment, Steaua’s options for the role were probably the best in the league, with the experienced Galamaz and Geraldo plus the new sensation, Gardos. And should I say that the club’s biggest problems are at the other end, with Bilasco, Surdu, Burdujan and Dica yet to click and offer some guarantees that they’ll be able to provide the much needed goals for an improbable title challenge?

Now at Rapid, Ivanov should start resenting the red, a color associated with both Steaua and Dinamo

Pavel Vidanov to Rapid – another Bulgarian, another solid defense, but at least this signing makes some sense! Vidanov is 22 and, as a senior international (4 caps for Bulgaria), can be considered a bargain at a price way under half of million Euros. In fact, it could turn out to be an excellent deal, although I expect him not to be rushed into the team, where he’ll find quicker some space on the right side, rather than in the centre, where Marcos Antonio and Marius Constantin have done great in the first half of season, plus worked together the entire winter break.