CS Afumați had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Steaua Bucharest, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Buta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I watch every CS Afumați game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Petrolul Ploiești runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” George Stanciu after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrei Florescu provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
CS Afumați asked and Petrolul Ploiești said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Gabriel Buta 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
2 academy players handed senior numbers at CS Afumați
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
CS Afumați asked and Dinamo Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexandru Man has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adrian Chiriches has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CS Afumați have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valerio Gallo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at CS Afumați now.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrei Florescu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Cluj have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Universitatea Craiova have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The name of Ionuţ Coadă has come up in conversations CS Afumați were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CS Afumați have done the hard part with CFR Cluj, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
CS Afumați had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CFR Cluj, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 7.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marwin Biako did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 is 22 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.
Everybody at CS Afumați saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match15 Apr 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about CS Afumați and FC Argeș in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Gabriel Buta 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.
Baptiste Leclerc 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.
In brief
Boardroom107% of the income goes out in wages at CS Afumați
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CS Afumați will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Dumitrescu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CS Afumați the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.29, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Baptiste Leclerc 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Dumitrescu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CS Afumați the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Afumați this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Florescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CS Afumați people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unirea Slobozia have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrei Florescu 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.
FCSB go through and CS Afumați go home, 2‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between CS Afumați and FCSB, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Buta 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.
Alin Lazăr 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 22 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.
0‑3 to CSC Dumbrăvița, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CS Afumați they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gabriel Buta 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 Andrei Florescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.64 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout8 Nov 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 0‑3 George Stanciu left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad8 Nov 2027
5 new faces, and CS Afumați are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Florescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Valerio Gallo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Olimpia Satu Mare. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Noah Riskwait
MarketA stepping stone, not a home, for George Leaţă
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
CS Afumați asked and Bendel Insurance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 is 22 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 name of Iannis Muşat has come up in conversations CS Afumați were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jihlava have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Alin Lazăr 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
CS Afumați offered $150.0K; Sepsi OSK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Buta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Baptiste Leclerc 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.
CS Afumați have made the call to Banik Ostrava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
CS Afumați had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Universitatea Craiova, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gabriel Buta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hermannstadt have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Florescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Rapid Bucharest have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Antonio Preda is in the works
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CS Afumați lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Afumați can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kristian Mong has just signed for CS Afumați, and for once the answer mattered.
CS Afumați asked and Chindia Târgoviște said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrei Florescu 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 words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
2‑3 to FC Bacău, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Buta 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrei Dima has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Boardroom17 May 2027
116% of the income goes out in wages at CS Afumați
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.
Baptiste Leclerc and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 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 2‑3 George Stanciu left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Adelin Nica
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at CS Afumați training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrei Florescu 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Andrei Florescu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Baptiste Leclerc 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 watch every CS Afumați game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CSM Reșița runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CS Afumați have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Gabriel Buta 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.
Something was said to Pedro Pinho and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CS Afumați, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CS Afumați lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neman have kept their man, and CS Afumați go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Baptiste Leclerc 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” George Stanciu after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and CS Afumați will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CS Afumați may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
CS Afumați close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Gabriel Buta 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.
CS Afumați asked and Dinamo Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Florescu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and CS Afumați know which stage they are at.