Rumoured Cristian Manea

[Cosmin 2,484]

The Romanian website dolce-sport.ro is reporting that Cristian Manea (17, right back) is set to complete a move to Chelsea for 3 million euros. He comes from Viitorul Voluntari. He seems to be a decent prospect, since he aleardy made his debut for the Romanian NT. The source claims that Manea will leave Viitorul during the next winter and Chelsea will loan him to Vitesse or Mallorca, in Spain.

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[DavidEU 2,023]

FFP signing or genuinely talented with potential for us?

[Cosmin 2,484]

He's talented, but I don't know if he's Chelsea material.

[Cosmin 2,484]

It seems to be a done deal. Gheorghe Hagi, Viitorul's owner, announced the Romanian NT coach, Victor Piţurcă, that Manea signed for Chelsea (the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor claims that the paper job is already done). Manea will win 20k euros per month. A detail that I forgot to mention: Manea is the youngest player to ever play for Romania.

"This is a huge step for Manea and he knows it. He's very good. He used to play in the center of the defence and he reminds me of Chivu. He's technical, serious, agressive, has courage, knows the game and has great control of the ball. Romania won a big player!" -
Hagi, about Manea

[termninja 5,290]

So, we signed a new Christian Chivu! We should put him in our defense right away to adress our defending issues

[magic weeds 446]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2981089/Chelsea-agree-2-3milllion-deal-sign-17-year-old-Romania-right-Cristian-Manea.html

[LondonsFinest 692]

The romanian guy with the Costa avy, shed some light, friend. Is he going to slot in directly, or do I still hope for Clyne.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

How about his technique ? I watched a Youtube videos last year since I thought that we already signed him in Pasalic-style way (everything in place but confirmation).

He seems to me like really tailor-made Ivanovic-succesor. His quick, has physique alongside him. Jose will love that. I really hope that he's far better accomplished technically than Branna though.

Of course not for now but a couple of seasons at Vitesse and we will see.

[Yeboii 1,844]

How about his technique ? I watched a Youtube videos last year since I thought that we already signed him in Pasalic-style way (everything in place but confirmation).

He seems to me like really tailor-made Ivanovic-succesor. His quick, has physique alongside him. Jose will love that. I really hope that he's far better accomplished technically than Branna though.

Of course not for now but a couple of seasons at Vitesse and we will see.

Think he will rather play in our youth teams as he can still count as home-grown if he stays here long enough.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

Hmm only now I remind myself that Romania is in EU already and he doesn't need work permit. So there's some chance that he stays although unlikely for me. We won't have problems with HG quota in the future if Jose keeps his promise to promote our own youngsters.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

Hmm only now I remind myself that Romania is in EU already and he doesn't need work permit. So there's some chance that he stays although unlikely for me. We won't have problems with HG quota in the future if Jose keeps his promise to promote our own youngsters.

In my opinion Jose has been too quick to talk up the qualities of a few youngsters. I think his comments suggest that a number of players have better chances of making it here than is really the case. If my feeling about this is correct then we will have to pay some attention at least to home-grown/club trained requirements.

[nyikolajevics 2,420]

Hmm only now I remind myself that Romania is in EU already and he doesn't need work permit. So there's some chance that he stays although unlikely for me. We won't have problems with HG quota in the future if Jose keeps his promise to promote our own youngsters.

Croatia is EU-member state too but Croatian players still have problems with work permits. Kramaric had to wait for weeks to get his.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

The romanian guy with the Costa avy, shed some light, friend. Is he going to slot in directly, or do I still hope for Clyne.

Sorry mate couldn't answer you, had a busy time, lots of deadlines set for this week. Freed up my time now, will write about this guy tonight when I'll get back home.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Ok, so the kid is talented, no doubt about it. Technically he is very, very good for his age and his passing is precise also. This is why he can also play as a right winger as well. Can't say he is an attacking minded full back, but he likes to make overlapping runs a lot and put in (quality) crosses.

I usually do not rate Romanian youngsters at all, because of the times whe are living in and the money involved. The talent is there, but money is their biggest problem as 99% of them tend to lose their mind after signing big money contracts and spend it on broads, booze, fancy cars and they all end up by ruining their career and coming back to Romania. I'm talking strictly about youngsters joining foreign clubs because every year there are players signing contracts with bigger clubs, most of them Italian.

But there is something about Cristian Manea that makes me think he can develop into a truly good player should he stay humble and work his ass off for his dream. An encouraging thing is that he is coming from a very tiny village in Romania called Agigea, near the Black Sea, with something like 4k or 5k population. You don't have nightclubs there, or fancy cars, or bimbos, so his background is quite good. Also you probably know by now that he is playing for Viitorul Constanta. This is Gheorghe Hagi's project. The Academy. Probably the most professional thing you will see in Romanian football and the best football Academy in Eastern Europe, as they like to call it. "Viitorul" is the Romanian for "The Future".

It was founded in 2009 and needed three years to work their way up to Romanian first tier. The fact that they are playing in Liga I is an advantage for these kids born in 1995, 1996, 1997 to show their talent and play against professional players at such a young age. In 2012/2013 Viitorul had only youngsters playing for the first squad, but nowadays it is a mixture of experience and young talents, with Cristian Manea a regular at right back.

Romanian media quote Di Marzio and Daily Mail on this transfer. Gheorghe Hagi did an interview with the main sports channel two days ago and indeed said Cristian Manea would leave for a big club in the summer, but refused to say the name of the club. Only thing he said is that Cristian Manea is wanted by some of Europe's big clubs and these are his last months as a player for Viitorul. Asked if he can cash in big money, €3.1m (£2.2m) as it is reported, Hagi said he would like to, but he is not sure this would happen. Probably somewhere around the £1.5m mark.

Manea is also the youngest player to have ever played for the Romanian national team, aged only 16 and probably the best thing to come through the youth ranks to replicate Dan Petrescu. No wonder Chelsea is interested in signing him. As I said, he is a special talent, but needs to detach from the Romanian mentality and stay humble. Romanians are talented, this is a country with a population of 20m, you find young kids playing football at every corner. But the brain is their problem, that's where they need to work a lot, more than to their footballing skills.

Really hope this kid could make it here. Looking forward to seeing him on loan.

[Reddish-Blue 2,213]

Croatia is EU-member state too but Croatian players still have problems with work permits. Kramaric had to wait for weeks to get his.

Kramaric had work permit issues because he did not meet the eligibility criteria for international appearances in the past two years.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

Thank you @petre.ispirescu, a very interesting read. I must say your report makes me hope that he really has signed with Chelsea.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

Ok, so the kid is talented, no doubt about it. Technically he is very, very good for his age and his passing is precise also. This is why he can also play as a right winger as well. Can't say he is an attacking minded full back, but he likes to make overlapping runs a lot and put in (quality) crosses.

You just described the dream full-back for me : more defensive-minded but fking quality when going forward. I'm inclined to believe that he has technical qualities on high level, that's what I want after Iva. But probably too soon to call him Ivanovic replacement. Anyway thanks for that read, really good one. When Chelsea will be about to sign some Polish kid then I will personate an expert role, we also have lots of quality kids, with this population and over 90% of the boys eager to play football, with ever-changing environment and professionalization of structure from roots I think it won't be long.

[Reddish-Blue 2,213]

Looks like this kid is the real deal, was surprised to see he's already made his Romanian international debut