“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Viitorul pay $330.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ciprian 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.
“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 Petrolul know 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 Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Petrolul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Petrolul is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciprian 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.
Razvan Puscas 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ciprian Balasa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Petrolul the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciprian 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.
Razvan Puscas 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Paul Keseru 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.
In brief
SquadDaniel Stanciu falls out with a teammate over standards
Out, 0‑1 to Dinamo Bucharest, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Razvan Puscas wants continental football; whether Petrolul can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Paul Keseru 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergiu Mitrita and Petrolul agree another 4 years.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Ciprian 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Paul Keseru scored in the 86th minute, Botosani had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Petrolul took the lot.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ciprian 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergiu Mitrita 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lorenzo Biliboc is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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 Petrolul hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
In brief
SquadWords at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 98th minute. Pandurii will replay every second of the added time for a week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergiu Mitrita provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Razvan Puscas and Petrolul agree another 5 years.
Squad24 May 2027
Ciprian 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergiu Mitrita 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Universitatea Craiova have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sergiu Mitrita. The answer from Petrolul has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pandurii pay $110.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mihai Man 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.
Aston Villa arrived with $11.4M 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Petrolul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is going to Aston Villa, the club has $11.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Zoran Mitrov 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.
In brief
SquadCiprian Bancu falls out with a teammate over standards
The offer from Universitatea Craiova for Ionut Nita 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.
The phone has started ringing about Ianis Cicaldau again, and this time the name on the line is Aston Villa. Petrolul are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ianis Cicaldau 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mihai Man 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.
Ionut Nita wins it after the whistle should have gone
121 minutes played. Ionut Nita found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Universitatea Craiova went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Petrolul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Vladimir Screciu 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergiu Mitrita and Petrolul agree another 4 years.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciprian 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.
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Petrolul came through the finding-out well against Malmo FF.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciprian 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.
Ilija Mašić 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Petrolul pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ianis Cicaldau signs something — a contract at Petrolul or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Sergiu Mitrita wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Sergiu Mitrita found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and CFR Cluj went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Florin Burca delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Florin Burca scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Pandurii drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Ianis Cicaldau 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.
CFR Cluj made Petrolul work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciprian 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.