Nicusor Mitrita

Goalkeeper - Cultural Leonesa
19 Apr 2030
Friday
Process

Marked for Nicusor Mitrita

188 Edition

The Cultural Leonesa Courier

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Santiago Kojro

135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cultural Leonesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

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Market

Ramiro González wants European nights

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.

Squad

Words at Cultural Leonesa training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jayden Danns 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.

Squad

Ilja Safronov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Safronov commits to Cultural Leonesa for another 3 years.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ángel Algobia

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ángel Algobia, and the manager let it.

Squad

A falling-out at Cultural Leonesa

Oleksandr Kozak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jayden Danns

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Cultural Leonesa and Oviedo take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Isack knocks on the manager’s door
  • Market No place for Nicusor Mitrita in the plan
Back issues
159 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

The dugout

Cristian Mitrita says Astra went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Boardroom

Astra go back to the board over Francisco Fernandes

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $270.0K — a club that wants Francisco Fernandes enough to be asked twice.

Boardroom

Alexandru Pantea has agreed to leave Astra for nothing

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.

Squad

George Keseru signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” George Keseru and Astra agree another 5 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Astra

George 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.

Transfer targets

No deal for Francisco Fernandes at that price

Astra offered $260.0K; Universitatea Craiova 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.

Market

Mário Junior attracts admirers

The name of Mário Junior has come up in conversations Astra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Match

Whatever happens, Astra do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

The dugout

No hiding place for Adrian Burca

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrian Burca, and the manager let it.

In brief

155 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Baba Alhassan out for 40 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Only the photograph left for George Keseru

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. George Keseru will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Astra the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Damjan Đoković 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 Astra can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

The step up is real for Ciprian Iancu

At 21 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.

Transfer targets

Astra baulk at the price for Berna

Dinamo Bucharest wanted more than $42.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

A row about effort at Astra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Cordea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A late step up for Octavian Popescu

At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Transfer targets

FCSB tell Astra: Nicusor Mitrita is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

When it matters, Dragos Keseru plays

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.

In brief

155 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Gaëtan Laborde damages knee ligaments — 70 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.

Market

Daniel Bîrligea puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

68 days out for Eddy Gnahoré after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Terms done: Narcis Ilaş is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrolul waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

FCSB turn down Istanbulspor for Lukas Gütlbauer

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Only the photograph left for Nicusor Mitrita

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicusor Mitrita will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Victor Orakpo is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Iliya Gruev 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.

Loan watch

Mateo Morro wants to come home

“I did not go to Viitorul to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

In brief

152 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde

93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Eddy Gnahoré out for 91 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason FCSB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Not going: Lukas Gütlbauer stays at FCSB

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Istanbulspor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Market

Terms done: Antonio Maurić is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Voluntari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Siyabonga Ngezana puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Bunyodkor come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Nikola Moro 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.

Transfer targets

FCSB baulk at the price for Simão Rocha

Viitorul wanted more than $550.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Razvan Chiriches 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.

In brief

150 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Gaëtan Laborde out for 107 days

107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Lukas Gütlbauer has said yes to Istanbulspor

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

107 days out for Eddy Gnahoré after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. FCSB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

FCSB refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 37 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.

Market

Josip Elez puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Zadar for Antonio Maurić 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.

Market

Nicusor Mitrita has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Nicusor Mitrita has agreed to leave FCSB for nothing

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.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Gaëtan Laborde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

146 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

FCSB are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Raul Opruţ

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raul Opruţ will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Carlos Mora wants more than FCSB are offering

“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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Razvan Chiriches 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.

Squad

Josip Elez out for 43 days

The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Josip Elez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

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Squad

George Byers 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 FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Yegor Prutsev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yegor Prutsev and FCSB agree another 4 years.

Loan watch

Mateo Morro has seen enough of Torpedo Kutaisi

“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 FCSB, and 10 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

144 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Siyabonga Ngezana asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Market

Josip Elez is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Razvan Chiriches 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 FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

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The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yuval Sade

“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.

The dugout

Ofri Arad has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Squad

Arjen van der Heide 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 dugout

Laurenţiu Popescu has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Laurenţiu Popescu has written the date down.

Squad

Nicusor Mitrita wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and FCSB have no good answer.

In brief

140 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Josip Elez

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josip Elez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Nikola Moro signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikola Moro and FCSB agree another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Nikola Moro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Razvan Chiriches 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 dugout

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The dugout

The manager makes an example of Antonio Maurić

“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.

The dugout

Ofri Arad has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Market

Silviu Lung told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Silviu Lung has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FCSB.

The dugout

Siyabonga Ngezana knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siyabonga Ngezana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

138 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

FCSB up to position 2

37 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Raul Opruţ is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Razvan Chiriches 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.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Coman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

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Loan watch

Mateo Morro wants to come home

“I did not go to Torpedo Kutaisi to sit and watch. I want to come back to FCSB and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at FCSB

5 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.

The dugout

Nikola Moro has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Silviu Lung

“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.

In brief

  • The dugout Sheriff Sinyan knocks on the manager’s door
  • Squad A wage question at FCSB
  • Market The clock does Josip Elez’s negotiating for him
137 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Nikita Kakkoev

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Kakkoev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A row about effort at FCSB

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Razvan Chiriches was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Daniel Coman 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 dugout

news_h_old_wounds_reopened

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The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Market

FCSB and Josip Elez are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

A wage question at FCSB

Ştefan Târnovanu has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.

The dugout

Nicusor Mitrita knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicusor Mitrita trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Sheriff Sinyan has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sheriff Sinyan has written the date down.

In brief

121 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

20 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaëtan Laborde

82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Dragos Keseru has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

The dugout

Eddy Gnahoré: 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.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Daniel Bîrligea 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 FCSB hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Gaëtan Laborde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Razvan Chiriches 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 dugout

No hiding place for Silviu Lung

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silviu Lung, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Iliya Gruev plays

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.

Market

The Ofri Arad story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ofri Arad signs something — a contract at FCSB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

116 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

16 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Siyabonga Ngezana puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Alexandru Maxim has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCSB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Razvan Chiriches 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 FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Siyabonga Ngezana wants to go home

“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 FCSB know it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Eddy Gnahoré

“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.

The dugout

Daniel Bîrligea has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at FCSB 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.

Squad

Words at FCSB training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Pantalon 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.

Market

Ofri Arad linked with a move away

The name of Ofri Arad keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FCSB say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

115 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

9 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

No mercy from FCSB

Viitorul will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. FCSB were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Both of them Daniel Bîrligea'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.

Match

Nobody wins at FCSB

15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Player ratings

Luka Ivanušec runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Gaëtan Laborde yet — 8.99

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Daniel Bîrligea 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 FCSB hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Iliya Gruev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iliya Gruev and FCSB agree another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at FCSB

Gaëtan Laborde 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

114 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

2 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Nicusor Mitrita out for 37 days

37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The run is over for FCSB

20 matches without defeat, and then Astra. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Ştefan Târnovanu stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Dragos Keseru asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Market

Narcis Ilaş is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCSB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Player ratings

Nikola Moro pops up at the right end — 7.90

7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Market

Gaëtan Laborde 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 FCSB hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Iliya Gruev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Iliya Gruev and FCSB agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Gaëtan Laborde 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

113 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

25 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

20 unbeaten for FCSB

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 20 matches without defeat is a foundation FCSB did not have in the autumn.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Only the photograph left for Dragos Keseru

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dragos Keseru will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Player ratings

Sheriff Sinyan goes up and wins it — 7.36

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.36 for the rest of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at FCSB

Iliya Gruev 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Gaëtan Laborde

11 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Iliya Gruev was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.19. 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.

Match

FCSB rescue it on 87 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Dinamo Bucharest had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Match

Dinamo Bucharest end the FCSB run at 4

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Dragos Keseru
  • Match Halfway: FCSB sit in position 4
  • Squad Too much change too quickly at FCSB
112 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

18 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Terms done: Dragos Keseru is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrolul waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gaëtan Laborde takes the afternoon — 9.24

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gaëtan Laborde provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

FCSB are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 16 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Match

The run at home goes on for FCSB

14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

The dugout

Antonio Maurić keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

FCSB cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

A falling-out at FCSB

Nikola Moro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Only the photograph left for Alexandru Maxim

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandru Maxim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCSB the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

111 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

11 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Sebastian Mailat puts it in writing

“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 FCSB, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Stefan Dražić: 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.” FCSB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

David Moses arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. David Moses has, at FCSB, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

Ionuţ Cercel’s move to Astra falls through

The deal that would have taken Ionuţ Cercel to Astra has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to FCSB with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Transfer targets

Too dear: FCSB walk away from Simão Rocha

$280.0K was the most the club would pay and Viitorul were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the David Barbu deal

FCSB ran out of time with Viitorul. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Razvan Chiriches 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Gaëtan Laborde

“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.

In brief

110 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

4 Sep 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Nicusor Mitrita damages knee ligaments — 69 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.

Match

No mercy from FCSB

Botosani will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. FCSB were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Daniel Bîrligea scores twice — 9.42

Two goals and a mark of 9.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

Too dear: FCSB walk away from Edu Expósito

$9.2M was the most the club would pay and Espanyol were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Market

Terms done: Alexandru Maxim is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pandurii waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Gaëtan Laborde yet — 8.94

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Zoran Mitrov asks to leave FCSB

“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.

The dugout

Sebastian Mailat keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

$490.0K settles it between the clubs for Ştefan Bană

Petrolul have accepted the money. What FCSB do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

In brief

109 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Whatever happens, FCSB do not lose

17 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Nicusor Mitrita damages knee ligaments — 76 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.

Match

FCSB run riot against Voluntari

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Transfer targets

FCSB bid $9.0M for Mohamed Camara

The offer went to Maccabi Tel Aviv this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Gaëtan Laborde takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Transfer targets

An offer of $7.5M for Edu Expósito

FCSB have gone to Espanyol 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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Gaëtan Laborde yet — 9.39

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

Nobody wins at FCSB

13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Transfer targets

$400.0K settles it between the clubs for Yuval Sade

CFR Cluj have accepted the money. What FCSB do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

In brief

108 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Nicusor Mitrita out for 85 days

85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FCSB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

16 unbeaten for FCSB

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation FCSB did not have in the autumn.

Market

Terms done: Dragos Keseru is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Petrolul waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCSB is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Player ratings

A brace, and Gaëtan Laborde takes the afternoon — 9.39

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gaëtan Laborde provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

FCSB pay Al Nasr $7.5M for a proper upgrade

Al Nasr did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $7.5M for Marius Marin, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Squad

Marius Marin gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marius Marin has just signed for FCSB, and for once the answer mattered.

Player ratings

Narcis Ilaş, 21, steals the show — 7.66

Marked 7.66 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Nikola Moro delivers — 7.93

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nikola Moro scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Market

FCSB say no — this time

The offer from Slask for Mateo Morro 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.

In brief

107 Edition

The FCSB Chronicle

14 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FCSB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

15 unbeaten for FCSB

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation FCSB did not have in the autumn.

Market

Narcis Ilaş has said yes to Andijon

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. FCSB have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Transfer targets

Marius Marin is a medical away from FCSB

The deal with Al Nasr is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Player ratings

Gaëtan Laborde scores twice — 8.98

Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Astra come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and FCSB did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Dylan Collard asks to leave FCSB

“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.

Transfer targets

FCSB rebuffed over Lorenzo Biliboc

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viitorul have kept their man, and FCSB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A move Luka Ivanušec would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Ivanušec is living that version at FCSB, and it tends to show in the first month.

In brief

106 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Nicusor Mitrita out for 99 days

99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Terms done: George Keseru is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Voluntari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Astra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

Adrian Burca leads the rout of Viitorul

3‑0, and Adrian Burca took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astra tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Both of them Adrian Burca's — 8.85

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Giovanni Petcu 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 Astra can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Mihai Man signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mihai Man commits to Astra for another 2 years.

Squad

The step up is real for Ricardo Fernandes

At 20 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Astra

Ovidiu Perianu 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 targets

Door shut on Raul Opruţ

Astra asked and FCSB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

105 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Adrian Burca leads the rout of Dinamo Bucharest

3‑0, and Adrian Burca took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Astra tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Adrian Burca scores twice — 8.74

Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Edgar Ié has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Astra agree $460.0K for Steven Nsimba

The clubs have shaken hands with Universitatea Craiova; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

Tempers go at Astra

Yannick Semedo 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Arturo Colletti at Astra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arturo Colletti is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Mário Junior wants to go home

“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 Astra know it.

Transfer targets

Astra rebuffed over Joel Andersson

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Astra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

104 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nicusor Mitrita damages knee ligaments — 115 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.

Market

Florin Stanciu asks to leave Astra

“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.

Player ratings

Ovidiu Perianu did the work nobody counts — 7.61

18 combined actions and 7.61. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Joel Andersson rejects the move

Astra had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Andrei Dăncuş is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Astra

Adrian Burca 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Yannick Semedo

At 32 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at Astra

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Transfer targets

Astra rebuffed over Pedro Naressi

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Astra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

103 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Yannick Semedo has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

The step up is real for Ciprian Iancu

At 20 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.

Squad

Diogo Calila wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Astra can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Florin Stanciu has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Transfer targets

Universitatea Craiova tell Astra: Steven Nsimba is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yannick Semedo

“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.

Transfer targets

Astra try to borrow Pedro Naressi

Ludogorets 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.

The dugout

George Keseru gets picked when it counts

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 George Keseru is on it.

In brief

102 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

10 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicusor Mitrita

130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Astra turn down Dinamo Bucharest for Edgar Ié

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Giovanni Petcu asks to leave Astra

“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.

Boardroom

Edgar Ié has agreed to leave Astra for nothing

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.

Squad

Adrian 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 Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Leonardo Perković is a better footballer than he was

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.

Squad

Late improvement for Ovidiu Perianu

At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Raul Opruţ

Astra asked and FCSB 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 dugout

Adrian Burca gets picked when it counts

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 Adrian Burca is on it.

In brief

101 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Nicusor Mitrita out for 138 days

138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Astra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The view from the top for Astra

44 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Market

Yaël Nandjou Kwingoua asks to leave Astra

“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.

Market

Vlad Hagi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Astra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Dinamo Bucharest join the queue for Edgar Ié

Add another name to the list: Dinamo Bucharest have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Edgar Ié. The answer from Astra has not changed — yet.

Squad

Tempers go at Astra

Adrian 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.

Squad

Ovidiu Perianu 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 targets

Dinamo Bucharest tell Astra: Costin Amzăr is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Still no ink between Astra and Yannick Semedo

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Astra, another week without a signature from Yannick Semedo.

In brief

100 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

26 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nicusor Mitrita damages knee ligaments — 146 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 146 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.

The dugout

Adrian Burca says Astra went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Florin Stanciu asks to leave Astra

“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.

Transfer targets

Nicolás Arévalo will not be coming to Astra

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Astra is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Astra

Adrian Burca 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Astra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovidiu Perianu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Astra rebuffed over Deian Sorescu

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FCSB have kept their man, and Astra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Still no ink between Astra and Baba Alhassan

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Astra, another week without a signature from Baba Alhassan.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Astra

7 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.

In brief

98 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Astra break the bank for Pavlo Isenko

$2.7M. No player has ever cost Astra more, and expectation arrives with him.

Market

FCSB come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Astra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Adrian Burca stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrian Burca and Astra agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Serif Nhaga is a Astra player

The fee is $150.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Bucharest drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Squad

Yannick Semedo 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 Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Astra baulk at the price for George Merloi

Voluntari wanted more than $53.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Market

Eyes on Vlad Hagi again

The phone has started ringing about Vlad Hagi again, and this time the name on the line is Botosani. Astra are listening politely and promising nothing.

The terraces

$2.7M for Pavlo Isenko, and Astra supporters approve

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: Pavlo Isenko from Universitatea Craiova for $2.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.

Squad

Words at Astra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovidiu Perianu 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.

In brief