Marked for Razvan Mitrita
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Viitorul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viitorul can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Petrolul moved on, Daniel Mihaila reports back to Viitorul, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Juraj Badelj 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vlad Burca. 2‑1 against Voluntari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Razvan Cicaldau 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Squad
8 new faces, and Viitorul are still learning each other
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Vlad Burca
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Aug 2026
Botosani ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Both of them Vlad Burca's — 9.28
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viitorul say no — this time
The offer from Universitatea Craiova for Razvan Cicaldau 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Viitorul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Juraj Badelj ended with $490.0K changing hands and Universitatea Craiova out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Vlad Burca 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Juraj Badelj from Universitatea Craiova for $490.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Alexandru Hagi sold
Arsenal arrived with $24.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Viitorul sell a favourite for $24.2M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alexandru Hagi was one of the reasons people came, and $24.2M does not replace that by itself.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Vlad Burca has come up in conversations Viitorul were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Viitorul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vlad Burca and Viitorul agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Vlad Burca 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 Viitorul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Santos, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Dinamo Bucharest left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 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
Yenisey come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Viitorul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 28 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 Aug 2026
Astra left with the points after a 6‑7 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vlad Burca 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
13 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Viitorul and Astra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Alexandru Hagi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.75. 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandru Hagi 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.