Marked for Ciprian Maxim
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
$1.5M from CFR Cluj for Sergiu Burca. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mihai Stanciu
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
The Astra deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marius Hagi reports back to Pandurii with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Pandurii sell a favourite for $1.5M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sergiu Burca was one of the reasons people came, and $1.5M does not replace that by itself.
Market12 Jul 2027
Daniel Toma arrives at Pandurii in a $490.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Pandurii have paid $490.0K for Daniel Toma, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pandurii have done the hard part with FCSB, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Pandurii
George Deac and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Pandurii spend $490.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $490.0K for Daniel Toma, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davide De Battisti commits to Pandurii for another 4 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Dragos Bancu breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
Ianis Bancu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Pandurii have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bari is saying, and nobody at Pandurii is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Pandurii
George Deac 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Pandurii
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ionut Hagi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lech have kept their man, and Pandurii go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pandurii can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Pandurii have made the call to FCSB. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pandurii people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2027
Pandurii say no — this time
The offer from FCSB for Ionut Hagi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The paperwork begins on Juan Perea
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pandurii have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Jun 2027
George Deac in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Pandurii asked and Ludogorets said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Dragos Bancu 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I want to play”: Samy Mahour speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Dragos Bancu has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Pandurii that is a harder question to answer.
Market21 Jun 2027
The shop window has Ianis Bancu in it
Pandurii have let the market know Ianis Bancu can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pandurii lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 May 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bartosz Żelazowski has just signed for Pandurii, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionut Hagi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ionut Stanciu
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
25 days out for Michał Bedronka after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pandurii will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragos Bancu 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Pandurii
Ovidiu Hagi 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.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pandurii, and 12 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sergiu Burca’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pandurii have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
Ianis Bancu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Pandurii had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Polissia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
George Deac 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krylya Sovetov have kept their man, and Pandurii go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Pandurii
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ciprian Maxim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicusor Nedelcearu commits to Pandurii for another 3 years.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pandurii, and 7 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Market18 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandru Moldovan signs something — a contract at Pandurii or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
Petrolul come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Pandurii did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jan 2027
Ciprian Maxim hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dragos Bancu 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Pandurii go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Pandurii game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Petrolul runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ovidiu Hagi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Polissia 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gracien Deseri and Pandurii agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pandurii, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Pandurii have had the benefit of it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Razvan Coman: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pandurii have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Pandurii asked and Botosani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ciprian Maxim 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ianis Bancu
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pandurii know it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Vitoria Guimaraes 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gracien Deseri and Pandurii agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Florin Bancu in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pandurii know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pandurii are still strangers to each other
6 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mate Dibusz, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Pandurii lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Botosani will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
George Deac beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.92, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ionut Hagi commits to Pandurii for another 5 years.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Pandurii game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Puskas Akademia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ovidiu Hagi. 1‑0 against Voluntari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ciprian Maxim is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Pandurii will try not to make too much of it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Ciprian Cicaldau, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Samy Mahour 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Pandurii
George Deac 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bryan Meyo is a better footballer than he was
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.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Ovidiu Hagi
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pandurii is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pandurii, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.26 on the card, and the Pandurii support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paul Chiriches after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Ianis Bancu, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match1 Aug 2026
14‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad3 Aug 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Sergiu Burca takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergiu Burca provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ciprian Maxim, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ovidiu Hagi, 33, rolls back the years — 8.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
An offer of $1.5M for Vlad Nita
Pandurii have gone to Astra with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market3 Aug 2026
Ianis Bancu wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pandurii hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.