Nicolae Mitea

Nicolae Mitea (born 24 March 1985) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a winger. Between 2003 and 2005, he made eight appearances for the Romania national team, scoring two goals.

Nicolae Mitea was born on 24 March 1985 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1994 at local club, FRB Titan.^[1][2] In 1997 he went at Juventus București, one year later moving to Dinamo București, then in 2001 he switched teams again, going at Rapid București.^[1][2]

In 2002, Mitea and Roberto Iancu were taken by coach Ionuț Chirilă on a one-week trial at FC Barcelona, but despite leaving a good impression, they did not sign a contract because of some problems with their sports agent.^[2][3] Mitea was also taken by Chirilă at a trial at Mircea Lucescu's Galatasaray but again despite making a good impression he did not sign a contract.^[2]

In 2002 he returned at Dinamo București where he started his senior career, making his Divizia A debut on 24 November when coach Cornel Dinu sent him on the field in the 87th minute in order to replace Flavius Stoican in a 1–0 home victory over FC Brașov.^[1][2][4] On 27 November 2003, Dinu sent him in the 79th minute to replace Ionel Dănciulescu in a 3–0 win in the derby with Steaua București from the Cupa României, a trophy which the club won at the end of the season but new coach Ioan Andone did not use him in the 1–0 win over Național București from the final.^[1][5][6]

After having played only nine matches in the Romanian league, he was picked up by Dutch club Ajax who paid 720.000$ for his transfer.^[1][7] Mitea made his Eredivisie debut on 13 September 2003 when coach Ronald Koeman sent him on the field in the 77th minute in order to replace Tom Soetaers in a 4–1 home win with RKC Waalwijk.^[8][9] He scored his first goal on 5 October in a 3–1 away victory over FC Groningen, also he scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win with rivals PSV Eindhoven.^[8][10] He also started playing in European competitions, making four appearances in the 2003–04 Champions League group stage.^[1][8][11] His first season at Ajax was a success as he, at the age of 18 was used by Koeman in 23 league matches in which he scored seven goals, helping the club win the title.^[1][8][12] In the following season he played again in the Champions League group stage, this time making six appearances and scoring once in a 2–2 with Bayern Munich.^[1][8][13] All these performances helped him earn the "2004 Ajax Talent of the Year" award.^[14][15]

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.^[1][16] Also in the following one Mitea did not play regularly as manager Henk ten Cate choose to overlook him and he was no longer first choice for the left-wing position.^[17] Despite the lack of appearances in these two seasons he did add the 2006–07 KNVB Cup to his list of trophies, playing three games in the campaign and scoring once in a 3–1 win over RKC Waalwijk but remained an unused substitute in the victory with AZ Alkmaar from the final.^[1][18][19] Due to minor injuries and still being out of favor with Henk Ten Cate, and then temporary replacement coach Adrie Koster, Mitea did not play a single game for Ajax during the 2007–08 season.^[1][20] He was not in new coach Marco van Basten's plans and was told to look for a new club.^[16]

During his spell with the Sons of the Gods he was colleague with fellow Romanians Bogdan Lobonț and George Ogăraru, also developing a good friendship with Zlatan Ibrahimović.^[18][21] He also appreciated very much Ronald Koeman, saying after he ended his career:"When I arrived at Ajax, Koeman was the coach. I liked him the most, I think we collaborated for 3–4 years. The practices he led were based on possession, everything was with the ball. It was a pleasure to be trained by him, he knew how not to stress you... At the same time, he was a strict, severe, but fair technician. He knew how to support me. I can say now, after so many years, that Ronald Koeman is my father in football. I debuted with him at Ajax, there were many matches in which he relied on me as a starter."^[22]

In August 2008, Mitea returned to Dinamo, coach Mircea Rednic saying about the transfer:"I agreed to this transfer, otherwise Mitea would not have come. With him on the field, Dinamo will increase in speed on both lanes".^[23] However he did not manage to become an important player for the team, one year later terminating his contract with the club on a mutual agreement.^[1][24]

In August 2010, Mitea signed with Greece second league side Ionikos, however he made no appearances for the team, then in the following summer he went back to Romania at Petrolul Ploiești where he worked with coach Valeriu Răchită.^[1][25] He made his debut for The Yellow Wolves when he was sent to replace Valentin Negru in the final minutes of a 1–0 loss with Rapid București, these being his first appearance in a football match after over two years of absence.^[26] In his second and last league appearance for the club and for him, Mitea scored his only goal in Romanian top-league football in the 5–1 loss in front of his former team, Dinamo.^[27]

In July 2013, his coach from his youth years, Ionuț Chirilă who was now head coach at Concordia Chiajna, brought Mitea to the club but in February 2014 he left without playing a single game, having problems with his physical condition, retiring at age 28.^[1][28]

Starting since 2002 and until 2006, Nicolae Mitea was a constant appearance for Romania's under-19 and under-21 sides.^[1][29]

He played eight games and scored two goals for Romania's senior team, making his debut on 20 August 2003 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in the 83rd minute in order to replace Adrian Mutu in a friendly that ended with a 2–0 away win against Ukraine.^[30][31] His last three matches for the national team were at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, in the first scoring a double in a 2–1 victory with Macedonia, the following two consisting of a loss in front of Netherlands and a win against Armenia.^[30][32]

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mitea goal.^[30][32]

List of international goals scored by Nicolae Mitea

#	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	30 March 2005	Stadion Gradski Park, Skopje, Macedonia	6	Macedonia	1–0	2–1	2006 World Cup qualifiers
2					2–1

Dinamo București

• Cupa României: 2002–03^[1]

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 2003–04^[1]
• KNVB Cup: 2006–07^[1]

• Voetbal International profile (in Dutch)
• Nicolae Mitea at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Nicolae Mitea at National-Football-Teams.com
• Nicolae Mitea at Soccerway