Cristian Costel Melinte (born 9 May 1988) 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 le ...

who plays as a full back.

Club career

He began his career at Fortuna Covaci, but just some months later he went to play for Auxerre Lugoj in

Liga II The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

. Then he joined

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

in 2005, playing three times in his first season and four times in the following one, in

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

. He then was sent on loan to

CS Ineu Club Sportiv ACB Ineu, commonly known as ACB Ineu, or simply as Ineu, is a Romanian football club from Ineu, Arad County, Romania and currently playing in Liga IV – Arad County. Originally founded in 1920 as Victoria Ineu, the club was better ...

and then returned to UTA Arad in early 2008 playing regularly with the side. In late 2008 he joined

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

for an unsuccessful trial, and then left to join

FC Dinamo București Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest. Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...

later in March 2009.

Career in Italy

He was acquired by Palermo in a free transfer in August 2009, after a successful trial with the Sicilians, being awarded a four-year contract with the ''rosanero'' club. He made his debut on 29 October 2009, playing the first half in a Serie A game ended in a 3–5 away loss to

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

. After playing a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

home game against

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

, he was again featured in the Italian Serie A on 30 January 2010 as a replacement for injured

Federico Balzaretti Federico Balzaretti (; born 6 December 1981) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-sided full-back, currently in charge as director of football of Vicenza. A product of the Torino youth system, his first experience a ...

in an away game versus

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. Melinte's performance was then verbally criticized by club chairman

Maurizio Zamparini Maurizio Zamparini (9 June 1941 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian businessman. He was the owner and director of football club U.S. Città di Palermo between July 2002 – February 2017 and from July 2017 – December 2018. Biography Zampari ...

after the Romanian caused a penalty (then scored) with the game being 2–2, and then making a mistake that was instrumental in Bari's fourth goal. Two days later, he was sent out on loan to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

in switch with

Marco Calderoni Marco Calderoni (born 18 February 1989) is an Italian footballer who plays as a left-back for club Fermana. Club career Piacenza Calderoni made his first team debut on 25 May 2008 against Cesena, the 2nd last match of the season. In February ...

. He returned at Palermo at the end of his loan spell, but no interested party was found and he was subsequently excluded from the first team. On 31 August 2011 he moved on loan to Petrolul Ploiești. On 3 July 2012, he was loaned to

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

, until the end of the season.

References

External links

* *
Player profile at UEFA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melinte, Cristian 1988 births Living people Footballers from Timișoara Romanian men's footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's youth international footballers FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players Palermo FC players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FC Astra Giurgiu players CS Concordia Chiajna players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players ACS Poli Timișoara players Men's association football defenders Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Liga I players Liga II players Serie A players Serie B players