Adrian Mutu is a former Romanian footballer, nicknamed "The Briliant", who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is the best scorer in the national history of Romania, with 35 goals scored, record he shares with Gheorghe Hagi.

Mutu started his professional career as a footballer at FC Arges Piteşti, where he scored 11 goals in 41 games until he was sold for 760.000$ to Dinamo Bucharest.

Mutu's immense performances began to appear when he reached Dinamo. He scored 26 goals in 18 games, having a very important role in winning the championship and the Cup of Romania. In return he was transferred to Internationale Milano.

After being transferred to Inter for 1.500.000$, Mutu failed to score in Serie A, where he played only 10 matches. But in the Italian Cup he played 4 matches, scoring 2 goals. He was then transferred to Hellas Verona for 5.100.000$.

In 2000 Adrian Mutu was transferred to Hellas Verona in a co-ownership transaction for 3.873.427€. In June 2001, Hellas Verona bought Mutu definitively for 2.633.930€. For Verona Mutu scored 17 goals in 62 matches, a performance that Parma was impressed with and paid for him 12.700.000$.

In the 2002-03 season, Mutu was lent to Parma with the definitive purchase option. Mutu's season at AC Parma was the most prolific of his career in Serie A. He scored 18 goals in 31 games, helping Parma qualify for the UEFA Cup. Mutu was considered the best Parma player in the 2002-2003 season and for that has received the captain title in the following season. However, he did not become a captain because he was acquired by Chelsea London's new owner at the time, Roman Abramovich.

In August 2003, Chelsea paid Parma 22.5 million € for Mutu's transfer. At Chelsea Mutu debuted with four goals in three games including a double in the victory with 4-2 against Chelsea's rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but later, his goals were "shortened" towards the end of the season. Jose Mourinho's arrival at Chelsea has bring arguments between them, accusing each other of lies. In September 2004, he was found positive with cocaine in an anti-doping test. He was fired by the club and suspended for 7 months, from 29 October 2004 to 18 May 2005, and fined 20,000£ by the English Football Federation. The English club claims that through his behavior, Adrian Mutu has caused the group a loss of 13 million pounds. Mutu was forgiven by Roman Abramovich and did not have to pay any damages.

On January 12, 2005, Mutu signed a 5-year contract with the Italian team, Juventus Torino, when he was still suspended, unable to play in the first five months of the contract. He made the first appearance for Juventus in the 57th minute at Juve's last match, 4-2 with Cagliari, on May 29, 2005. From the 2005-2006 season, he began as a reserve but his performances (7 goals in 20 matches for Juventus and 5 goals in 5 games for Romania) pushed him to the first 11. Juventus club was relegated in 2006 due to the Calciopoli scandal and as many players of the Torino club, Mutu left the club.

On July 8, 2006, Fiorentina announced they signed the contract with Mutu for 8.000.000 €. In 17 matches Mutu scored 10 goals and is ranked third in the Serie A goalie, after Totti and Spines.

He is the best player in Serie A in the 2006/2007 season and receives offers from Real Madrid and other big teams. However, he decides to remain at the Viola group. In the 2007/2008 season he managed to be the most prolific Romanian striker with 17 goals. He becomes the best foreigner player of Serie A.

On January 28, 2010, he was positively detected with sibutramine in an anti-doping control, and received a 9 month suspension, and would be able to play an official match again at the end of October. Mutu returns to football after a 9 month suspension and the Italian press announces that he will play in the match against Catania.

After the scandal with Sinisa Mihajlovici, the Fiorentina coach, the Italian club announced that Adrian Mutu was excluded from the team training because the Romanian footballer did not comply with the contract. After a month he was taken back to the group, after finishing his countings with Victor and John Becali, who apparently were not accepted by the club's leadership. Since the beginning of 2011, rumors have emerged that Mutu might have split from Fiorentina. Thanks to his high salary of 2 million euros per season, and due to the late performances of the club lately, he was placed on the transfer list. Several teams have shown interest in buying the Romanian striker, including Cesena and Galatasaray, but none of the parties has managed to reach a common agreement.

On June 23, 2011, Mutu signed with Cesena a two-year contract with the possibility of extending one more season. The salary is estimated at 1.8 million € per year. It seems that Fiorentina gave The Brilliant for free. By transferring to Cesena, Adrian Mutu became the fourth player in the 21st century to play for six different Serie A clubs, like Appiah, Makinwa and Budan. Adrian Mutu played in Italy at: Inter Milan, Hellas Verona, AC Parma, Juventus, Fiorentina and Cesena.

In 2012, Adrian Mutu was transferred as a free player to Ajaccio's French team. A three-season contract, the salary being estimated at 1 million €. Mutu said he was delighted with his new team: "I am very happy, I hope to keep my enthusiasm and achieve great things. Why did I choose to come here? That's how I felt, I chose with the heart."

In the 2012-2013 season, the Romanian managed to score 11 times in 24 matches for the French team, being a basic player for his team.

Most of the informations about Adrian Mutu's career was taken from wikipedia.ro and some newspapers from Romania.

In the next post I will write about the personal life of Adrian Mutu, about his 3 wives, about the time when he was roommate with Ibrahimovic as well as other extra-sportives events in his life.

Thanks for reading!