There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Voluntari game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Oțelul Galați runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Alin Chinteş
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alin Chinteş has come out of that comparison in the side, and Voluntari have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
Player ratingsMatko Babić beats them one at a time
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Universitatea Cluj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Mikanović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Universitatea Cluj will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
0‑4 to Steaua Bucharest, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Dragos Puscas left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Remus Guţea is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jug Stanojev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Universitatea Cluj is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Something was said to Anton Mitryushkin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jovo Lukić is on it.
Pantelis Hatzidiakos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dan Nistor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Atanas Trică and Universitatea Cluj agree another 4 years.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Alin Techereş
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alin Techereş has come out of that comparison in the side, and Universitatea Cluj have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mouhamadou Drammeh is on it.
Something was said to Atanas Trică and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Universitatea Cluj has been clear about where Alessandro Murgia stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Universitatea Cluj know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and FC Bacău were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Three points for Voluntari, 1‑0 the final word against FC Bacău in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Voluntari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovro Cvek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Jessé Paulo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Voluntari has been clear about where Lovro Cvek stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Dragos Puscas kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Radu Crişan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Lovro Cvek falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. CS Dinamo Bucharest defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Andrei Piţian and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Doru Andrei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dragos Puscas, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lucas Lima falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Concordia Chiajna in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voluntari know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
The dugoutAlin Chinteş has become a man the manager trusts
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alin Chinteş did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
George Merloi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marvin Schieb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Matko Babić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Voluntari may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Alin Chinteş, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
David Kiki and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Matko Babić decided nobody was going anywhere. Politehnica Iași had no time left to answer.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Voluntari have done the hard part with Universitatea Cluj, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Voluntari go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voluntari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.