Louis Munteanu (; born 16 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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

club CFR Cluj. Munteanu made his senior debut for Viitorul Constanța in 2019, aged 17, and the next year was transferred to Italian side

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. In 2022, he returned to his boyhood club, which had merged with Farul Constanța, and contributed to winning the national title during his first loan spell back. Two years later, Munteanu signed with CFR Cluj, also in the Liga I. Internationally, Munteanu represented Romania under-21 in the 2023 UEFA European Championship. In October that year, he registered his full debut in a goalless draw with

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 R ...

in the

Euro 2024 qualifiers 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 ...

Club career

Viitorul Constanța

Munteanu made his professional debut for Viitorul Constanța on 27 October 2019, in a 2–3 away

loss to

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...

. Five days later, he scored his first goal in a 3–0 home success over Chindia Târgoviște. Munteanu amassed three goals from 19 appearances during his first season as a senior, all in the league championship.

Fiorentina

On 26 September 2020, Munteanu was transferred to Italian club

for a rumoured fee of €2 million. During his initial two years with the Primavera side, he appeared in 40 matches and scored 13 goals.

First loan to Farul Constanța

On 15 August 2022, Munteanu rejoined the Romanian league by signing for Farul Constanța on loan until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. Before moving to Farul, he was close to being loaned to

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

; however, the deal fell through because Fiorentina declined to include a permanent transfer clause. On the 28th that month, he scored his first two goals in a 3–1 away victory over defending champions CFR Cluj. On 6 May 2023, Munteanu netted his second double of the campaign in a 7–2 home thrashing of Rapid București. Fifteen days later, he scored the winner in a 3–2 home success over league contenders FCSB, securing the national title for Farul with one match remaining. On 28 May, Munteanu ended his spell with ten goals in 29 matches by scoring twice in a 2–1 away victory at CFR Cluj, also missing a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

Second loan to Farul Constanța

On 18 August 2023, Munteanu was sent on another

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

-long loan to Farul. He made his debut in

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 ...

competitions six days later, coming on for Adrian Mazilu in a 2–1 home win over HJK in the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round. On 27 August, he scored both goals in a 2–0 home win against Universitatea Craiova. Munteanu surpassed his previous season's statistics by netting 12 goals in 34 Liga I appearances, and was voted Farul Player of the Year by the fans.

CFR Cluj

On 31 July 2024, amid interest from fellow league clubs FCSB and Rapid București, CFR Cluj officially announced the transfer of Munteanu on a four-year contract. CFR Cluj owner Neluțu Varga admitted that the transfer fee was "around €2 million", contrasting some reports that indicated it might be as high as €2.8 million, and also stated that Fiorentina retained 50% participation rights in a co-ownership deal. Munteanu registered his debut on 4 August 2024, starting in a 2–3 home Liga I loss to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first ...

. One week later, he scored his first two goals in a 3–0 win over newly-promoted

Unirea Slobozia Asociația Fotbal Club Unirea 04 Slobozia, (), commonly known as AFC Unirea Slobozia or simply as Unirea Slobozia, is a Romanian football club based in Slobozia, Ialomița County, which competes in the Liga II. The team was founded in 1955 and r ...

International career

On 15 June 2023, Munteanu was selected in the Romania under-21 squad for the 2023 UEFA European Championship. He started in all three group games, as his side failed to score any goals and finished in last place. On 12 October that year, Munteanu made his full debut for

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

by coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Denis Drăguș in a goalless draw with

in the

Personal life

On 16 October 2020, Munteanu tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Farul Constanța *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munteanu, Louis 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Vaslui Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players ACF Fiorentina players FCV Farul Constanța players CFR Cluj players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romania men's youth international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Romania men's international footballers