Alexi Paul Pitu (born 5 June 2002) is a Romanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger for Ligue 2 club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. Pitu started out as a senior in 2018 at Viitorul Constanța, which was merged into Farul Constanța three years later. He totalled over 80 matches in the

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

combined, before earning a move to French side Bordeaux in 2023. Internationally, Pitu has represented

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

at several youth levels.

Club career

Viitorul Constanța / Farul Constanța

Pitu made his senior debut for Viitorul Constanța on 12 July 2018, coming on as an 86th-minute substitute for

Ianis Hagi Ianis Hagi (; born 22 October 1998) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Scottish Premiership club Rangers and the Romania national team. He made his professional debut for Viitorul Cons ...

in a 2–0 win over Racing FC in the

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of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. Aged 16 and one month, he thus became the youngest Romanian player to make an appearance in a

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

club competition. Ten days later, he recorded his

debut by playing in a 0–1 loss to

Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See ...

. Pitu became a regular starter at the team after it merged with Farul Constanța in the summer of 2021, amassing 32 league games in the 2021–22 season. On 28 August 2022, he scored his first professional goal in a 3–1 away defeat of five-time defending champions

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

Bordeaux

On 26 January 2023, French team

announced the signing of Pitu on a four-and-a-half-year contract, with the transfer fee rumoured to be around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

2 million. Two days later, he made his Ligue 2 debut by entering as a 72nd-minute substitute for

Josh Maja Joshua Erowoli Orisunmihare Oluwaseun Maja (born 27 December 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Bordeaux. Born in England, he played one match for the Nigeria national team in 2019. Maja played youth football ...

in a 3–0 away victory over

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

International career

On 3 March 2023, Pitu received his first official call-up to the Romanian senior national team for the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament is an upcoming football competition that will be played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified host team Germany in ...

matches against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Personal life

Pitu's paternal uncle,

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the mai ...

, was also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Viitorul Constanța * Cupa României: 2018–19 * Supercupa României:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitu, Alexi 2002 births Living people Footballers from Karlsruhe Romanian footballers Romania youth international footballers German footballers German people of Romanian descent Romanian people of Aromanian descent Aromanian sportspeople Association football wingers Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players FCV Farul Constanța players Ligue 2 players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Expatriate footballers in France Romanian expatriate sportspeople in France