Nicusor Burca

Right Forward - IMT
22 Dec 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Nicusor Burca

10 Edition

The IMT Sentinel

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Farid Boulaya breaks a bone — 92 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Nicusor Burca scores twice — 8.43

Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Tempers go at IMT

Jérémy Manzorro 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Nicusor Burca

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Dušan Brković

“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.

Squad

Stefan Šapić 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.

Match

Nicusor Burca rescues a point for IMT

It needed Nicusor Burca to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Novi Pazar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Josué Tiendrébéogo

Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Off the bench and decisive: Luka Luković

The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. IMT were going nowhere until he came on.

In brief

Back issues
8 Edition

The IMT Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Farid Boulaya breaks a bone — 106 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

A brace, and Sankara Karamoko takes the afternoon — 8.47

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sankara Karamoko provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

4 matches without a win for IMT

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IMT are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at IMT

Jérémy Manzorro 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Nicusor Burca

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at IMT training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issac Dijkhuizen 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Sankara Karamoko

At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

IMT and OFK Beograd take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad

Milorad Kojić dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

4 Edition

The IMT Sentinel

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Farid Boulaya breaks a bone — 134 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

IMT out of the cup

Partizan ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Squad

Tempers go at IMT

Jérémy Manzorro 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

Dušan Brković gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Vladimir Radočaj sends IMT past Javor-Matis

It finished 1‑0, and it was Vladimir Radočaj’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IMT.

Squad

Stefan Šapić 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Vladimir Radočaj at his very best

Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at IMT.

Player ratings

Luka Luković runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

IMT bring in Nicusor Burca on loan

A season-long audition: Astra still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are IMT's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.

In brief

3 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Astra say no — this time

The offer from Dinamo Bucharest for Bogdan Man 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.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Nicusor Burca at 20 — 8.15

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nicusor Burca did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Dragos Balasa 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

Words at Astra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Vuković 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 terraces

Astra supporters have found a favourite in Nicusor Burca

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicusor Burca 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.

Squad

Cosmin Dragusin gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ovidiu Mihaila

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

Market

The Nicusor Burca conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Ufa will make the call about Nicusor Burca this week. Astra have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Match

Nicusor Burca rescues a point for Astra

It needed Nicusor Burca to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Petrolul, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

1 Edition

The Astra Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Claudiu Iancu keeps Astra in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Astra turn down Botev Vratsa for Nicusor Burca

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

Squad

Tempers go at Astra

Dragos Balasa 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

Cosmin Dragusin 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.

Match

Astra come up short against Viitorul

Viitorul left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Nicusor Burca

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief