Nicolae Mitea (born 24 March 1985) is a Romanian former 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 played as a winger. Between 2003 and 2005, he made eight appearances for the

Romania national team 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 ...

scoring two goals.

Club career

In 1998, Mitea and

Roberto Iancu Roberto Iancu (born 26 March 1982) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. In 1998, Iancu and Nicolae Mitea were taken by coach Ionuț Chirilă on a one-week trial at FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona ...

were taken by coach

Ionuț Chirilă Ionuț Chirilă (born 9 January 1966) is a Romanian football manager. He is the son of journalist Ioan Chirilă Ioan Chirilă (25 October 1925 – 21 November 1999) was a Romanian sports broadcaster and sports writer. The Ioan Chirilă Awar ...

on a one-week trial at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, but despite leaving a good impression, they did not sign a contract because of some problems with their sports agent. Mitea started his professional career in the Romanian

Divizia A 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 ...

, playing for

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 ...

in the 2002–03 season. After having played only nine matches in the Romanian league, he was picked up by Dutch club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

after he impressed on a trial. Before he left he and Dinamo won the

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

. His first season at Ajax was a success as he, at the age of 18, played 23 matches and scored 7 goals in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

and in the process winning the league title with Ajax. This period also saw him making his debut for the

on 20 August 2003. The 2004–05 season proved more difficult, as Mitea struggled to find the back of the net and only scored twice during that season. He performed very well on the Romanian youth team and became more interesting for the national team. 2005 was his breakthrough year in the national team, as he played four matches that year in which he scored twice. He established himself as a more important player for the team as well. His development in his career was set on hold due to a knee injury which sidelined him for a long time, resulting in only one appearance for Ajax in the 2005–06 season. Also in the following season Mitea did not play regularly as manager

Henk ten Cate Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...

choose to overlook him and he was no longer first choice for the left-wing position. Despite the lack of appearances in these two seasons he did add 2006–07

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

s to his list of trophies. Due to minor injuries and still being out of favour with Henk Ten Cate, and then temporary replacement coach

Adrie Koster Adrianus Cornelis "Adrie" Koster (; born 18 November 1954) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the manager of Willem II. He is a former winger and former manager of Ajax, Club Brugge and the Netherlands U21 team. Career He play ...

, Mitea did not play a single game for Ajax during the 2007–08 season. He was not in new coach

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...

's plans and was told to look for a new club. Mitea returned 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 ...

in August 2008 signing a four-year contract, but after only one season, in the summer of 2009 he left Dinamo and became a free agent.

Career statistics

Honours

Dinamo București *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: 2002–03 Ajax *

: 2003–04 *

: 2006–07

References

External links

Voetbal International profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitea, Nicolae Living people 1985 births Footballers from Bucharest Romanian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Romania men's international footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Liga I players FC Dinamo București players FC Petrolul Ploiești players Eredivisie players AFC Ajax players CS Concordia Chiajna players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands