Adrian Mutu

Argeș Pitești

Mutu began his professional career with his home club Argeș Pitești. He made his debut on 15 March 1997 against Oțelul Galați and went on to score 11 goals in 41 games before sealing a transfer to Dinamo București.

Dinamo Bucureşti

Mutu didn't spend long time playing in the Romanian capital. He scored 22 goals in 33 games in total and played an important role in Dinamo's league and Romanian Cup success. However, by the time that Dinamo lifted these trophies, Mutu had already left to play for Internazionale.

Internazionale

Having joined Inter midway through the season, Mutu made an immediate impact on his debut for the Italian side, in the Coppa Italia scoring within nine minutes of his appearance against derby rivals A.C. Milan to help Inter to a 3–2 victory. However, Mutu failed to replicate his form in Serie A, playing only ten games for the Nerazzurri without scoring, partially due to 3+2 non-EU quota.

Verona

In 2000, Mutu was sold to Verona in co-ownership deal, for 7,500 million lire (€3,873,427). The Veneto side has also signed Mauro Camoranesi (later teammate at Juventus) and young rising star Alberto Gilardino (later teammate at Fiorentina) that season, but narrowly avoided relegation through winning the relegation tie-breaker playoffs. In June 2001, Verona bought Mutu outright, for 5,100 million lire. (€2,633,930)

The quota system was abolished during the season.

Parma

In the 2002–03 season, Mutu was loaned to Parma with the option to purchase him outright, following Gilardino, who arrived in June 2002. At Parma, he met coach Cesare Prandelli (also at La Viola) and partnered Adriano Leite Ribeiro to form a deadly striking duo. He also met Sébastien Frey, Marco Marchionni and Alberto Gilardino who all later played for Fiorentina.

Chelsea

In August 2003, Chelsea paid Parma €22.5m (around £15.8m) for Mutu's transfer as part of new owner Roman Abramovich's spending spree, He started with four goals in three matches, including two in a 4–2 victory over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but Mutu scored fewer goals as the season progressed.

In the 2004–05 season, Mutu had a difficult relationship with the club's new manager José Mourinho, with each accusing the other of lying about whether the player was injured for a 2006 World Cup qualifying match against the Czech Republic. In September 2004, he failed a drugs test for cocaine and was released on 29 October 2004. He also received a seven-month ban and a £20,000 fine from the FA. The ban ended on 18 May 2005.

Breach of contract saga

Chelsea started to seek compensation from Mutu in early 2005. The Football Association Premier League Appeals Committee decided that the player had committed a breach of his contract without just cause which made Chelsea eligible to claim the compensation. Mutu started his first appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but the case was dismissed. On 11 May 2006, Chelsea applied to FIFA for an award of compensation against Mutu. In particular, the club requested that the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) award compensation to the club following Mutu's breaching the employment contract without just cause. However, on 26 October, the DRC decided that it did not have jurisdiction to make a decision in the dispute and that the claim by the club was therefore not admissible. On 22 December, Chelsea lodged a new appeal before the CAS seeking the annulment of the DRC’s decision. On 21 May 2007, a CAS panel upheld the club’s appeal, set aside the DRC’s decision, and referred the matter back to the DRC, “which does have jurisdiction to determine and impose the appropriate sporting sanction and/or order for compensation, if any, arising out of the dispute” between the Club and the Player,"

On 6 August 2007, on the basis of the Second CAS Award, Chelsea filed with the DRC a "Re-amended application for an award of compensation", seeking damages to be determined on the basis of various factors, "including the wasted costs of acquiring the Player (£13,814,000), the cost of replacing the Player (£22,661,641), the unearned portion of signing bonus (£44,000) and other benefits received by the Player from the Club (£3,128,566.03) as well as from his new club, Juventus (unknown), the substantial legal costs that the Club has been forced to incur (£391,049.03) and the unquantifiable but undeniable cost in playing terms and in terms of the Club’s commercial brand values", but "at least equivalent to the replacement cost of £22,661,641". On 14 September, Mutu submitted to the DRC a brief requesting the rejection of Chelsea's plea, and asking FIFA to open an investigation against the club for having used and/or dealt with unlicensed agents. But Mutu failed to suspend the arbitration and his claim for use of unlicensed agents was found not to be supported.

On 7 May 2008, the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber ordered Mutu to pay €17,173,990 in compensation to his former club, Chelsea FC, for breach of contract. This included €16,500,000 for the unamortised portion of the transfer fee paid to Parma, €307,340 for the unamortised portion of the sign-on fee (received by Mutu), and €366,650 for the unamortised portion of the fee to the Agent, but was not to take into account the determination of the damages for the amounts already paid by the club to the player (consideration for services rendered) or the remaining value of the employment contract (valued at €10,858,500). Mutu had to pay within 30 days after being informed of the decision in August 2008. Mutu lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport for the second time, but on 31 July 2009, that court dismissed his appeal, and Mutu was ordered to pay Chelsea the amount plus interest of 5% p.a. starting on 12 September 2008 until the effective date of payment; the matter was submitted to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for its determination. In addition, Mutu had to pay the costs of arbitration for both parties, including CHF 50,000 to Chelsea. The fine was the highest ever levied by FIFA.

Mutu could have been banned from football by FIFA if he did not pay the fine although some lawyers disputed this. Mutu started his third appeal, this time to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, in October 2009, but on 14 June 2010 this appeal was also dismissed with Mutu again being ordered to pay Chelsea €17m in damages. Mutu then submitted an appeal to European Court of Human Rights.

In 2013, FIFA DRC decided in a new ruling that Livorno and Juventus were also jointly liable to pay compensation; both clubs immediately appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. On 21 January 2015 The Court of Arbitration for Sport annulled the FIFA DRC ruling; Mutu remained the sole party to pay the compensation.

Juventus

Mutu signed a five-year contract with the Italian club Juventus on 12 January 2005, despite still being banned from football until 18 May. As Juventus had no available room to buy another non-EU player from abroad, the move also involved fellow Serie A club Livorno, who signed the player and contemporaneously sold him to Juventus. He made his first appearance on 29 May 2005, coming on as a substitute in the 57th minute of the last match of the season which was a 4–2 win over Cagliari. During the 2005–06 season, he scored seven goals in his 20 league match and 12 substitute appearances for Juventus. In the UEFA Champions League he made three starts and five substitute appearances and scored against Rapid Wien.

Fiorentina

On 8 July 2006, Fiorentina announced that they had signed Mutu for €8 million from relegated Juventus which both clubs involved in the 2006 Italian football scandal. This reunited Mutu with his former manager at Parma, Cesare Prandelli. Mutu formed a productive partnership with Luca Toni and between them the pair scored 32 goals in the 2006–07 season. He was named the best player of the season by “Il Calcio”, due to his 16 goals and eight assists in 33 games.

In July 2008, A.S. Roma made a reported €18 to 20 million offer to sign him outright, but Mutu hinted that he may remain in Florence and eventually signed a new contract reported last to 2012. On 30 November 2008, at his 200th match in Serie A, Mutu was chosen to captain Fiorentina in the game against Roma. On 2 February 2009, he scored his 100th and 101st Serie A goals against Bologna. On 15 February 2009, Mutu scored his first hat-trick with Fiorentina. After going 3–0 down against Genoa, Mutu converted a penalty, a free kick, and scored again in the final second of extra time, bringing the final score to 3–3. Despite a difficult elbow injury, Mutu managed to finish the 2008–09 season with 14 goals, along with Gilardino they were one of the top ten single season striker partnerships in Viola history with 33 goals between them.

On 29 January 2010, it was reported that Mutu failed a doping test after a Coppa Italia match against Lazio match nine days earlier, in which he scored twice in to help Fiorentina win 3–2. The INOC was requested to hand Mutu a one-year ban by the Italian anti-doping prosecutor. He eventually received a nine-month ban on 19 April, which was later reduced to six months and ended on 29 October. After the ban finished, Mutu was suspended by the club due to breach of contract (AWOL) on 7 January 2011. After such events, Mutu publicly apologised to the club and parted company with his agent Victor Becali; on 3 February 2011 Fiorentina announced the player was reinstated into the first team with immediate effect.

Later career

On 23 June 2011, it was officially announced that Cesena had signed Mutu on a two-year contract. On 15 January, Mutu scored two goals versus Novara and took his tally to 101 goals in Serie A. After a couple of unconvincing games, on 11 April, Mutu scored a goal against Genoa, to eventually earn a draw for Cesena.

In the summer of 2012, after Cesena relegated from Serie A, the two parties ended the contract by mutual consent.

After his release from Cesena, Mutu signed a new contract with AC Ajaccio of the French Ligue 1 on 28 August 2012. He said that he favoured the Italian culture on Corsica, dismissed claims that he was preparing for retirement, and stated that he would score more goals than Zlatan Ibrahimović of Paris Saint-Germain. Club president Alain Orsoni said that Mutu was the highest-profile player to come to Corsica since Johnny Rep joined SC Bastia in 1978. He scored two goals in their 3–1 home victory over Lyon on 3 February 2013, and finished the 2012–13 season with 11 goals in 26 league games.

After his previous season's goal haul was enough to keep Ajaccio in Ligue 1, Mutu's second season saw him play just 9 games and not score, before terminating his contract on 14 January 2014 alongside compatriot Ștefan Popescu.

Later that day he was presented at Petrolul Ploiești in front of 10,000 fans. He was signed by his former international teammate, Cosmin Contra. In the summer of 2014, Mutu scored both home and away against Viktoria Plzeň in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, a double which Petrolul impressively won 5–2 on aggregate.

On 26 September 2014, Petrolul announced that the club had ended the contract between the two parties.

On 30 July 2015, Mutu signed as the marquee player of Indian Super League club FC Pune City.

International career

Mutu made his international debut against Greece on 29 March 2000. He represented Romania at Euro 2000, his first major tournament where they beat England 3–2, and drew 1–1 against Germany. Romania were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Italy. Mutu has played for Romania 72 times, scoring 34 goals, 23 of which have come in qualifying games. Romania has only lost once when Mutu has scored for them, which was in a 2004 European qualifying game against Denmark. He was the vice-captain of Romania. His performances (games, goals) with the Romanian national team earned him the Romanian Footballer of the Year award. He equalized the all-time record of 35 goals set by Gheorghe Hagi for the national team in the 2–2 draw 2014 World Cup Qualifier against Hungary .

Euro 2008

Mutu scored Romania's only goal of Euro 2008 in the 55th minute of their second match against Italy, however in the same match he had a second-half penalty saved by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, which could have sent Italy out of the competition and would have guaranteed Romania a spot in the quarter finals. The game finished 1–1.

Since 2009, Romania's national team coach Răzvan Lucescu has had reservations about calling him up, because Mutu was revealed to be consuming alcohol after a match with Serbia in World Cup 2010 Qualifications. Because of poor results and fan pressure, Răzvan Lucescu was forced to call him up again. Mutu scored a brace in his first game back, a 3–1 win over Luxembourg on 29 March 2011, Romania's first win of the qualifiers. He also scored once in the next game, a 3–0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 June 2011. After the retirement of Cristian Chivu he has become the undisputed captain of Romania.

International ban

On 11 August 2011, Mutu and his teammate Gabriel Tamaş were excluded from the Romanian national team after they were found drinking at a bar on the night of 10 August, while their teammates were playing in a friendly match against San Marino. However, after only three games, their suspension was lifted. On 21 November 2013, Mutu was barred from playing on the national team after he posted an image of manager Victor Piţurcă as Mr. Bean on Facebook.

Style of play

A highly skilful and creative player, with an eye for goal, who was, however, troubled by off-field issues throughout his career, Mutu was capable of playing in several offensive positions, and was used as a supporting forward, as a main striker, as a winger, and also as an attacking midfielder, due to his ability to both score and assist goals. Often compared to compatriot Gheorghe Hagi, in his prime, Mutu was a quick and mobile player, with excellent technical skills and dribbling ability, and was also an accurate set-piece and penalty-kick taker. Despite his talent, he was often prone to injury and accused of inconsistency throughout his career, and was also notorious for his poor work-rate, temperamental character, and behaviour on the pitch; because of this, he was often regarded as not having lived up to his true potential.

Personal life

Mutu was born in Călineşti, Romania. In 2001, he married Romanian TV presenter Alexandra Dinu, but they divorced two years later, with Alexandra being awarded custody of their son Mario.

He has since been married to Dominican model Consuelo Matos Gómez; the couple have two daughters together.

In 2014, Mutu acted in a music video released by hip hop artist Snoop Dogg.

International

Club

Individual