ADRIAN MUTU: CAREER IN SUMMARY
Romanian star Adrian Mutu started his professional football career at Arges Pitesti in his home country. He played for Arges Pitesti for two years and then spent half a season at Romanian capital club Dinamo Bucharest before signing for Italian Serie A giants Inter Milan during the winter transfer window in 2000. Adrian Mutu became an Inter Milan player midway through the 1999/00 season.
Adrian Mutu played ten times for Inter Milan before he left the club to join fellow Italian team Hellas Verona and then another Italian team in Parma. He scored 39 goals for both Hellas Verona and Parma in all competitions during a three-year period. His impressive displays at Parma prompted Chelsea to splash the cash on him despite the fact that he spent just one season at the club. The Blues paid €22.5m to secure his signing from Parma in 2003. As a result of his excellent outings for Parma, Mutu was nominated for the Ballond’or award in 2003.
While he was on the payroll at Chelsea, Adrian Mutu failed a drug test and that was the beginning of the end of his career. He returned to Italy to sign for Juventus after his release by Chelsea. Mutu joined Fiorentina from Juventus after the Old Lady were demoted to the Italian Serie B after the Italian football scandal in 2006.
Adrian Mutu was a regular in the Fiorentina team during his five-year spell at the club. He played for Cesena in Italy for one season and then French team Ajaccio before returning to Romania to play for Petrolul Ploiesti. He played for two more years before calling it quit with his profesisonal football career in 2016.
Romanian forward Mutu scored 35 goals in 77 games for his country making him the joint leading goalscorer alongside Gheorghe Hagi.