Alin Stoica
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Alin Stoica (December 10, 1979 in Bucharest) is a Romanian football player currently playing for K.A.A. Gent. His former clubs include Steaua Bucharest and Anderlecht and Club Brugge in Belgium. Soon after his arrival at Anderlecht in 1996, the player became a favorite of the fans. Though, following a clash with manager Aimé Anthuenis the player left the club for its long-time rival Brugge in 2002. There he played only few games and thus decided to leave the club. Stoica won the Young Professional Footballer of the Year award for the 2000-01 season.
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[edit] RSC Anderlecht
The young Alin Stoica was bought from Romanian side Steaua Bucharest, where he was perceived as one of the most promising young players. Stoica fastly became the absolute favourite of the Anderlecht fans, getting nicknamed "Le Petit Prince du Parc Astrid". Scoring a beautiful goal against in the 2-0 win against the Ukrainian side Poltava, a lot of people predicted Stoica a bright future, some of the fans even saw him replacing the memorable Gheorghe Hagi.
After struggling with manager Aimé Antheunis, Stoica finally took his chances in the Belgian League and the Champions League. At the age of 20, he was the regulator on the midfield of Anderlecht, which defeated manchester United, Lazio Roma and Dynamo Kiev, ending up in the second round of the tournament.
Gifted with an incredible technique and vista, the young Stoica absolutely impressed Europe, scoring against Real Madrid, Leeds United and Kiev. After the suberb season, a lot of key players were sold and Stoica completed the season with mediocre prestations, with Stoica winding up as a sub once again. Tormented by critique and injuries, Stoica could never really live up to the high expectations.
When he decided to leave the Brussels side, teams like Lazio, Feyenoord and even Real Madrid were interested in his services. However, on the last day of his contract, he only received one offer: a 3-year-deal with RSCA Anderlecht rivals Club Brugge.
[edit] Club Brugge
Stoica couldn't really expose his technique in a solid, but very work-based team. In the 2 years he stayed at Bruges, he only showed the world his capability and talent twice: against Borussia Dortmund (2-1) and AC Milan (0-1).
However, the graceful Petit Prince could never really impress at Bruges and in December of 2003, he cancelled his contract at once and searched for another team.
[edit] 2003 - 2006
After a trial period at Southampton, he played 6 monts at Seria A side Siena. His next 2 clubs, Steaua Bucharest and Politechnica Timisoara weren't amazed by his qualities and in 2006 he rejoined the Belgian competetion, starting the season at KAA Gent. Currently, he's struggling to regain his peak condition.
The first game he played, against Charleroi, was immediately determined by a superb pass by Stoica that resulted in the 2-1 winning goal.
[edit] References
- (Dutch) Voetbal International website - Stoica's fiche
