Club career
Ajax
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] [8] 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. [9] [10] 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. [9] [11] He also started playing in European competitions, making four appearances in the 2003–04 Champions League group stage. [1] [9] [12] 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] [9] [13] 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] [9] [14] All these performances helped him earn the "2004 Ajax Talent of the Year" award. [15] [16]
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] [17] 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. [18] 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] [19] [20] 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] [21] He was not in new coach Marco van Basten's plans and was told to look for a new club. [17]
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. [19] [22] 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." [23]
Return to Dinamo București
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". [24] 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] [25]
Late career
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] [26] 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. [27] 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. [28]
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] [29]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Macedonia 
