After Romanian threw off communism in 1989, and Romanians were allowed to travel abroad freely for the first time, many talented young footballers dreamed of winning a transfer to a foreign club for the experience, money and prestige.
But 36 years on after scores of footballers achieved that goal, the trend appears to be reversing.
Romania’s top footballers are coming home either because they are no longer at the top of their game, they failed to impress, or because they miss the local culture, and can earn good salaries, at least in the top league, Liga 1.
In the current Romanian championship, there are 60 players who have returned home after having played for foreign clubs, Golazo.ro reported on Tuesday.
As expected, half of those have returned to the country’s elite, the Liga 1 clubs which are: FCSB (former FC Steaua Bucharest), Craiova, Farul and two clubs in Cluj.
Here are some of the names:
Striker Daniel Paraschiv, 26, has just signed with Rapid Bucharest, returning to Romania after 18 months after failing to leave his mark at Spanish clubs Oviedo and Leonesa. Before him, Adrian Mazilu, 20, signed last autumn with Dinamo, after leaving as a rising star at the club. But he failed to reproduce that level at Brighton, a British club or Dutch club, Vitesse Arnhem.
Golazo.ro estimated that the percentage of repatriates in the top division is about 15%.
Football teams with the repatriated players in the squad
- Universitatea Craiova – 7
- FCSB – 6
- CFR – 6
- Universitatea Cluj – 6
- Farul – 5
These five _ teams with a good image who can charge large transfer fees_ have half the returnee players.
These are the most expensive transfers from the current repatriates.
- Vlad Chiricheș – sold by FCSB to Tottenham for 8.5 million euros
- Alexandru Cicâldău – sold by Universitatea Craiova to Galatasaray for 6.5 million euros.
- Florin Tanase – acquired by Al Jazira from FCSB, for 3 million euros.
- Alexandru Chipciu – bought by Anderlecht from FCSB for 3 million euros
- Adrian Mazilu – sold by Farul to Brighton for 3 million euros.
- Tudor Băluță – transferred by Farul to Brighton for 2.9 million euros.
All premier league clubs have at least one Romanian footballer in the squad who has played abroad at some point.
The top three players are Chiricheș, now 36, who played in the Premier League and Serie A for a decade, starting at Tottenham then moving to Napoli and Sassuolo. His transfer to Spurs in 2013 was a record of the Romanian championship at the time. Chipciu, also 36, a defender, played for Belgian champions, Anderlecht. He’s now the captain of Universitatea Cluj. Cicâldău,28, was a midfielder for top Turkish club, Galatasaray.
