Adrian Mutu (; born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career, he was deployed as a forward or an attacking midfielder.
Mutu started his career playing two years for Argeș Pitești and one year for Dinamo București, before joining Inter Milan in Italy midway through the 1999–2000 Serie A season. After only ten games with the Nerazzurri, he left for Hellas Verona and then Parma, for which he scored 39 goals in the next three years. His excellent form brought him a €22.5 million transfer to Chelsea and a nomination for the Ballon d'Or in 2003. Following a failed drug test, he was released and returned to Serie A to join Juventus. After the 2006 Italian football scandal and the relegation of Juventus to Serie B, Mutu decided to join Fiorentina, where he played consistently for the next five years. He then had a season at Cesena and French club Ajaccio, before returning to his native country with Petrolul Ploiești in 2014. After two more brief spells with Pune City and ASA Târgu Mureș, Mutu retired from professional football in 2016.
A controversial figure off the field, Mutu received widespread attention following a positive test for cocaine while playing for Chelsea in 2005, which resulted in his immediate release from the club, a subsequent seven-month ban from the Football Association, and an order to pay £15.2 million in damages to his former employers, the largest financial penalty in FIFA history. He has unsuccessfully tried to appeal the fine numerous times, and was banned for a second time in 2010 following a positive test for sibutramine while at Fiorentina.
From his international debut in 2000, Mutu played 77 matches for the Romania national team and scored 35 goals, making him the joint all-time top-scorer alongside Gheorghe Hagi. He was included in the country's squads at the UEFA European Championship in 2000 and 2008. Mutu earned the Romanian Footballer of the Year award four times, a total surpassed only by Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi, who have won six and seven times, respectively.
Club career Argeș Pitești Mutu was born on 8 January 1979 in Călinești, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1987 at Argeș Pitești. He made his Divizia A debut at age 18 on 16 March 1997, when coach Ion Moldovan sent him to replace Marcel Abăluță for the final minutes of a 0–0 draw against Oțelul Galați. Mutu scored his first goal in the competition on 18 October in a 3–1 home win over Steaua București. Subsequently, he played six games in the 1998–99 UEFA Cup and scored once against Dinamo Baku and twice against İstanbulspor, helping Argeș get past these teams in the qualifying rounds, but they were defeated by Celta Vigo in the first round. During these years, Mutu formed an offensive partnership with Constantin Barbu.
Dinamo București In the middle of the 1998–99 season, Mutu was transferred from Argeș to Dinamo București for a €600,000 fee. He scored four goals against Mondercange in the qualifying round of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, but his side was defeated in the following round by Benfica. Domestically, in the first half of the 1999–2000 season, Mutu scored 18 goals in the 18 matches coach Cornel Dinu used him, including netting a goal in a 1–1 draw against rivals Steaua. He was part of an offensive trio alongside Marius Niculae and Adrian Mihalcea, while also having Ion Vlădoiu as a competitor. He left in the middle of the season to go to Inter Milan, but Dinamo managed to win The Double without him. During this period, Mutu also earned the nickname "Briliantul" (The Brilliant) in reference to a brilliant-cut diamond.
Inter Milan At the turn of the millennium, he signed for Inter Milan. The selling club reported the fee as $2.1 million while the buyers said it was $7.15 million, leading to an investigation by Romanian tax authorities in 2006.
Mutu made his Serie A debut on 6 January 2000, when coach Marcello Lippi sent him in the 82nd minute to replace Clarence Seedorf in a 5–0 home win over Perugia. He scored two goals in the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals victory against rivals AC Milan and in the semi-finals win over Cagliari. Subsequently, he played as a starter in the final which was lost 2–1 to Lazio. Mutu had a hard time finding a place in Inter's first XI, as he had to compete with strikers such as Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Roberto Baggio, Iván Zamorano and Álvaro Recoba.
Verona In 2000, Mutu was sold by Inter to Verona in a co-ownership deal, for 7,500 million lire (€3,873,427).FC Internazionale Milano SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2001 The Veneto side also signed Massimo Oddo, Mauro Camoranesi (later a teammate at Juventus), and young rising star Alberto Gilardino (later a teammate at Parma and Fiorentina) that season. He netted his first two Serie A goals in a 2–0 victory against Lazio on 22 October 2000. As Verona faced fellow strugglers Bari on matchday 18 in February 2001, Mutu came off the bench with Verona down a man and trailing 0–1 and scored two goals, while also providing an assist for Camoranesi's goal, inspiring Verona to a 3–2 victory.Parks 2003, 296 The club narrowly avoided relegation through winning the relegation tie-breaker playoffs. In June 2001, Verona bought Mutu outright, for 5,100 million lire (€2,633,930).Hellas Verona FC SpA bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2001, PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A. In the following season, he scored 12 goals but could not avoid the team's relegation to Serie B.
Parma In the summer of 2002, Mutu was transferred from Verona to Parma for a €10 million fee. In the first round of the 2002–03 season, he scored one goal under coach Cesare Prandelli to help the team earn a 4–3 victory against Brescia. Mutu helped Parma eliminate CSKA Moscow by scoring three goals in the 4–3 aggregate victory in the first round of the UEFA Cup, with their campaign ending in the following round as they lost to Wisła Kraków against whom he scored once. In his single season spent with The Crusaders, he formed an impressive striking duo with Adriano, scoring 18 goals in 31 league appearances.
Chelsea On 12 August 2003, Chelsea paid Parma €22.5m (around £15.8m) for Mutu, who signed a five-year contract. The transfer was part of new owner Roman Abramovich's spending spree, as the club also acquired Hernán Crespo, Claude Makélélé, Damien Duff, Juan Sebastián Verón and Joe Cole among others. Mutu's transfer fee was the most expensive ever paid for a Romanian player until Radu Drăgușin was transferred from Genoa to Tottenham Hotspur for €25 million in 2024.
Mutu made his Premier League debut on 23 August 2003 under coach Claudio Ranieri, and scored the winning goal from distance in a 2–1 home victory against Leicester City. Mutu continued to score in the next two matches, as he netted a goal following a pass from Frank Lampard in a 2–2 draw against Blackburn Rovers and a brace in a 4–2 win at Stamford Bridge over Tottenham Hotspur. On 1 November 2003, he scored the only goal of a 1–0 victory against Everton, after a pass from Geremi. Subsequently, he netted once in a 4–0 win over Leicester. In the same season, Mutu also played in the 2003–04 Champions League, netting a goal in a 2–1 victory against Lazio in the group stage. In the second match against Lazio, Mutu was spat at by Siniša Mihajlović, who received an eight-match ban. After helping Chelsea eliminate cross-town rivals Arsenal in the quarter-finals, Mutu missed the semi-finals, where the team was defeated by AS Monaco.
In the 2004–05 season, Mutu had a difficult relationship with the club's new manager José Mourinho, with each accusing the other of lying about whether the player was injured for a 2006 World Cup qualifying match against the Czech Republic. In September 2004, Mutu was banned from football for seven months until May 2005 after testing positive for cocaine use.
Juventus Mutu signed a five-year contract with the Italian club Juventus on 12 January 2005, despite still being banned from football until 18 May. As Juventus had no available room to buy another non-EU player from abroad, the move also involved fellow Serie A club Livorno, who signed the player and simultaneously sold him to Juventus. He had to compete for a place in the team's starting lineup with strikers Alessandro Del Piero, Zlatan Ibrahimović and David Trezeguet. Mutu was sent on by coach Fabio Capello in extra time to replace Jonathan Zebina in the 1–0 loss to Inter Milan in the 2005 Supercoppa Italiana. Subsequently, he scored one goal in a 3–0 victory against Rapid Wien in the 2005–06 Champions League group stage, helping the team reach the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Arsenal. Mutu won two league titles with Juventus, but both were revoked due to the Calciopoli scandal.
Fiorentina
On 8 July 2006, Fiorentina announced that they had signed Mutu for €8 million. There, Mutu became a teammate of compatriot Bogdan Lobonț.
He scored his first goal on 20 September in a 1–0 victory against Parma. Mutu formed an offensive partnership with Luca Toni, with both of them scoring 16 goals by the end of the 2006–07 season. Afterwards, he netted three goals in the 3–1 aggregate win over PSV Eindhoven in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, but the campaign ended in the semi-finals where they were defeated by Rangers.
In July 2008, AS Roma made a reported €18 to 20 million offer to sign him outright, but Mutu hinted that he may remain in Florence and eventually signed a contract extending until 2012. Coach Prandelli praised his importance within the team: "Mutu is irreplaceable at Fiorentina. We cannot afford to lose our best player now, when extraordinary investments have been made and we have the Champions League ahead of us". He started to form an offensive duo with Gilardino at the start of the 2008–09 season. Mutu scored one goal in a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich in the 2008–09 Champions League group stage. On 15 February 2009, he scored a hat-trick in a 3–3 draw against Genoa, coming back from 0–3.
Mutu netted three goals in the 2009–10 Champions League group stage, scoring in both victories against Debrecen. On 29 January 2010, it was reported that Mutu failed a doping test after a Coppa Italia match against Lazio nine days earlier, in which he scored twice to help Fiorentina win 3–2. He was suspended for nine months.
Cesena On 23 June 2011, it was officially announced that Cesena had signed Mutu on a two-year contract. On 15 January 2012, Mutu scored two goals in a 3–1 win over Novara and took his tally to 101 goals in Serie A. After scoring the first goal, Mutu ran to the bench, grabbed a T-shirt, and held it up to the cameras, revealing the message: "100 times. Quiet! Just Mutu!". Following a couple of unconvincing games, on 11 April, Mutu scored a goal against Genoa, which eventually earned a draw for Cesena. In the summer of 2012, after Cesena suffered relegation to Serie B, the two parties ended the contract by mutual consent. Mutu recorded a total of 271 matches and 103 goals in Serie A.
Ajaccio After his release from Cesena, Mutu signed a new contract with AC Ajaccio of the French Ligue 1 on 28 August 2012. He dismissed claims that he was preparing for retirement, and stated that he would score more goals than Zlatan Ibrahimović of Paris Saint-Germain. Club president Alain Orsoni said that Mutu was the highest-profile player to come to Corsica since Johnny Rep joined SC Bastia in 1978.
Mutu made his Ligue 1 debut on 16 September 2012, when coach Alex Dupont sent him in the 62nd minute to replace Chahir Belghazouani in a 2–0 away loss to Lyon. He scored his first goal on 28 October in a 2–2 draw against Lorient. Mutu netted a total of 11 goals by the end of the season, including two doubles in a victory against Lyon and a loss to Saint-Étienne.