Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Petrolul offered $1.7M; Viitorul 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.
Adrian Rus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Musi 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.
Crvena Zvezda 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.
Petrolul have made the call to Atromitos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer went to Dinamo Bucharest 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.
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.
Botosani paid $180.0K and Petrolul took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Teles 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ovidiu Balasa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Daniel Bese is in the works
“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 The request is on a desk at Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Karlo Muhar 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 offer went to FCSB 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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Petrolul have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Samuel Teles 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.
Nobody at Petrolul 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Adrian Rus 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Musi 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 words a physio says slowly. 43 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 terraces3 May 2027
The mood at Petrolul has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Karlo Muhar 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Musi 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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 8 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Karlo Muhar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Musi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Mihai Deac has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihael Rebernik 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Petrolul would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Petrolul have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Petrolul close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Mohammed Kamara 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Rus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Petrolul 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Petrolul than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Petrolul has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Samuel Teles 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Petrolul will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Adrian Rus 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.
Nobody at Petrolul 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Petrolul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Petrolul would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Francisco Morais is living that version at Petrolul, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Teles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrian Rus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Luka Kukić.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petrolul, another week without a signature from Enzo López.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dragos Coman left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Adrian Rus 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Teles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dragos Coman to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Valentin Creţu
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 7.90 for the rest of 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Teles 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.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Petrolul told Ionuţ Ban something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Enzo López
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Karlo Muhar 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Rus 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Mohammed Kamara in the middle of it, and Astra unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
26 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dragos Coman, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Petrolul scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Karlo Muhar 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Rus 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.
Botosani made Petrolul work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Alexandru Musi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Half the programme played, position 6, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Something was said to Samuel Teles and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dragos Coman, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Matei Popa
It finished 3‑2, and it was Alexandru Musi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Petrolul.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Teles 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandru Musi 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.
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
26 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.
Adrian Rus 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Teles 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Claudiu Man is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 8 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
1 for Karlo Muhar, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 36 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and Astra 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.
Alexandru Musi 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Adrian Rus 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.
Petrolul asked and Gornik Zabrze said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.7M has been paid because Alexandru Musi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Petrolul have gone to Universitatea Craiova 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.
The deal with FCSB 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.
Karlo Muhar 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.
Alexandru Musi was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cortulua have kept their man, and Petrolul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Bucharest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gimnasia y Esgrima keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Šime Gržan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FCSB have kept their man, and Petrolul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Biliboc 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 18 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑20 to Pandurii, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mohammed Kamara is living that version at Petrolul, and it tends to show in the first month.
Petrolul have gone to Universitatea Craiova 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.
Karlo Muhar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
20 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Petrolul and Pandurii in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petrolul, another week without a signature from Karlo Muhar.