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Ganea’s back! Beware!
Almost four years ago, when playing for Poli Timisoara, Ionel Viorel Ganea was a bit upset with one of the referees, as you might have noticed in the above picture. Retired, he took up several roles at Dinamo, but he realized that going from sporting director to manager of the reserve team and heading for a scout’s role wasn’t quite the path he imagined and Prosport revealed today that the 37 years old has decided to return on the pitch. Not in the first division, but in the fourth, playing for the mighty FC Stefanesti, a squad he decided to help both as a player and (soon to be qualified) coach.
Don’t think that the former Romanian international, who scored 19 goals in 43 appearances for his country, plans to stay long at this level! He’s been decisive in his team’s playoff match against the ambitious CS Afumati (Smoked Sporting Club, if you’re really curious what this means) and might have a shot at making it into the third tier this summer!
I wish his colleagues/players best of luck, wouldn’t recommend them to be upsetting the former Stuttgart and Wolves man! And I doubt that the team from Stefanesti will get dodgy referees from now on…
VFB Stuttgart, testing a promising Romanian player
Unirea Alba Iulia’s officials announced that the promising Nicolae Stanciu will travel to Germany for a trial with Vfb Stuttgart. The midfielder, born in 1993, was playing among the seniors in the second division when he was only 15 years old and this year he made his debut in the top flight as well, collecting 5 matches so far. Technically gifted, Stanciu caught the eye with his vision, the surprising confidence and composure, showing nice playimaking ability and looking responsible on the pitch at a very tender age.
This trial comes three weeks after the press reports that spoke about Chelsea’s interest in Unirea’s latest product (Grozav – sold last summer to Standard Liege, Bucurica – in talks with FC Koln), confirming that top clubs are after the player that the brave and interesting coach Blaz Sliskovic decided to field against the likes of Steaua and Dinamo, in spite of the team’s terrible situation in the standings.
Today’s press
- Ronny Levy signed a contract with champions Unirea Urziceni. He will earn 20.000 EUR per month + bonuses, until June 2011. Levy inherits a strong team, which finished third in a tough Champions League group (played against Sevilla, VFB Stuttgart and Glasgow Rangers) and will continue to play in Europe this spring. Defending the title in the league is another objective still in reach, as Unirea has the same number of points (41) with CFR Cluj and Steaua. Only two players departed this winter, the wingers Dacian Varga and Tiberiu Balan, who were loaned from second division club Sportul Studentesc. Levy probably has been promised a transfer budget, although Urziceni was an expert (under Dan Petrescu and Mihai Stoica) in reviving the careers of players released or sold almost for nothing by smaller clubs.
- Steaua seems to have reached an agreement with Bulgarian striker Hristo Yovov (32), who should get 10.000 EUR / month until the summer, a substantial bonus (100.000 EUR according to http://www.gsp.ro) in case the club wins the title and the option to extend the current deal for one more year. The problem is that, so far, nobody from Steaua contacted Levski Sofia, but coach Mihai Stoichita will try to get the green light from the club during the weekend, when he’ll travel to Bulgaria.
- FC Timisoara will keep Pedro Manuel Taborda Moreira (31) until the end of the season, when his contract will expire. The club gave full (sometimes too much) credit to the very promising Costel Pantilimon (22) – on Arsenal’s shortlist – and also bought last summer Nemanja Supic (27), but Taborda impressed in the three appearances for the club this season (a solid display in Europa League against Dinamo Zagreb!) and, with Supic quite injury prone, will be kept as backup. Of course, the club will have to offer/promise something to a player who has every reason to look for another club right now.
- Otelul Galati released Gjorgji Mojsov (24), a central midfielder bought last summer from Rabotnicki. Played in seven games this season, three times as a starter. Otelul also terminated the loan of Arthur Patras, who came from Timisoara and is a regular for Moldova U21. This way, the club for Galati makes room in the first eleven for the promising Razvan Ochirosii, recently transferred (and partially bought) from Steaua, as part of the Zhivko Zhelev deal.
Scouting Romania 