Radu Drăgușin

Radu Matei Drăgușin (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈradu maˈtej drəguˈʃin]; born 3 February 2002) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays mainly as a centre-back for Serie A club Salernitana, on loan from Serie A club Juventus, and the Romania national under-21 team.

Radu Drăgușin
Personal information
Full name Radu Matei Drăgușin
Date of birth (2002-02-03) 3 February 2002
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Salernitana (on loan from Juventus)
Number 25
Youth career
2009–2013 Sportul Studențesc
2013–2018 Regal Sport București
2018–2020 Juventus
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2021 Juventus U23 10 (1)
2020– Juventus 1 (0)
2021–2022 → Sampdoria (loan) 13 (0)
2022– → Salernitana (loan) 5 (0)
National team‡
2018–2019 Romania U17 6 (1)
2019 Romania U19 3 (0)
2020– Romania U21 5 (0)
2022– Romania 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:22, 20 February 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2022

Early life

Drăgușin was born in Bucharest to Svetlana (née Simion) and Dan Drăgușin, both former Romanian internationals in basketball and volleyball, respectively. He has a younger sister named Meira, who also plays basketball.[1]

Club career

Early career

Drăgușin was persuaded to football by his cousin, and joined the youth squads of Sportul Studențesc at the age of seven.[1] He played at the club for four years before its dissolution, and then moved to Regal Sport București where he was teammates with Octavian Popescu and Luca Florică among others.[2]

Juventus

In 2018, among interest from Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid,[3] Drăgușin transferred to Italian club Juventus for a fee of €260,000.[1] Initially assigned as an under-17 player, he quickly moved to the under-19 team.[4] On 25 January 2020, midway through the 2019–20 Serie C season, Drăgușin made his debut for Juventus U23 against Pro Patria by coming on as a 36th-minute substitute for Raffaele Alcibiade.[5]

On 8 November, he was called-up to the senior squad by Andrea Pirlo for a Serie A fixture against Lazio.[4] He made his club and European debut on 2 December, appearing as a substitute in a 3–0 home victory over Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League group stage.[4] Drăgușin's league debut was made 11 days later, being brought on in the 90th minute for Matthijs de Ligt in a 3–1 away win over Genoa.[6]

On 13 January 2021, Drăgușin started his first match in the Coppa Italia,[7] as his side defeated Genoa 3–2 after extra time.[8] His first career goal came for the under-23s on 13 February 2021, in a 3–0 away defeat of AlbinoLeffe.[9] In April, Drăgușin's performances earned him a four-year contract extension at Juventus.[10]

Loans to Sampdoria and Salernitana

On 31 August 2021, Drăgușin was sent out on loan to fellow-Serie A club Sampdoria for one season.[11] He recorded his debut on 22 October, in a 2–1 league win over Spezia in which he replaced injured Valerio Verre in the 19th minute. Five days later, he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 loss to Atalanta.[12]

On 31 January 2022, after his initial loan at Sampdoria was interrupted prematurely, Drăgușin moved to Salernitana on loan for the remainder of the season.[13] He made his debut for them on 7 February, starting in a 2–2 draw to Spezia.[14]

International career

Drăgușin was selected by manager Adrian Mutu for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship,[15] having previously made two appearances for Romania in the qualifiers. He only featured once in the final tournament, as he replaced injured Alex Pașcanu in the 63rd-minute of a goalless draw with Germany.[16] Drăgușin was first called up with Romania in March 2021.[17] On 25 March, Drăgușin made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Greece coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute.[18]

Style of play

A tall and physical centre-back, Drăgușin has cited Virgil van Dijk as a point of reference, with whom he has since been compared to for his confidence in possession and positional sense.[3][4] Drăgușin has also played as a right-back on occasion.[12]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 19 February 2022[5]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Juventus U23 2019–20 Serie C 20——3[lower-alpha 1]050
2020–21 Serie C 81——2[lower-alpha 2]0101
Total 101——50151
Juventus 2020–21 Serie A 10201[lower-alpha 3]00040
Sampdoria (loan) 2021–22 Serie A 13010——140
Salernitana 2021–22 Serie A 3000—0030
Career total 271301050351
  1. One appearance in Serie C promotion play-offs, two appearances in Coppa Italia Serie C
  2. Appearance in Serie C promotion play-offs
  3. Appearance in UEFA Champions League

International
As of match played 25 March 2022[19]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 202210
Total10

Honours

Juventus U23[5]

Juventus[5]

References
  1. "La 18 ani, Radu Matei Drăgușin și-a făcut debutul la Juventus Torino" [At 18-years-old, Radu Matei Drăgușin made his debut for Juventus Turin]. Click! (in Romanian). 3 December 2020.
  2. Primejdie, Deian (2 May 2018). "Interviu Radu Drăgușin" [Radu Drăgușin interview] (in Romanian). Școala TV. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. "Radu Dragusin: 'Romanian Van Dijk' who rejected Chelsea for Juventus". Goal. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  4. "Chi è Dragusin, il 2002 che ha esordito in Champions con la Juve" [Who is Drăgușin, the 2002-born who made his Champions League debut with Juve] (in Italian). Sky Sport. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  5. Radu Drăgușin at Soccerway. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  6. "Genoa - Juventus, 1-3, Serie A 2020 giornata 11, La Repubblica". la Repubblica (in Italian). 13 December 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  7. "Juventus-Genoa, le formazioni ufficiali: giocano Dragusin e Wesley | Goal.com" [Juventus - Genoa, the official line-ups: Drăgușin and Wesley play | Goal.com] (in Italian). Goal. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  8. Pifferi, Matteo (14 January 2021). "Coppa Italia – La Juventus batte il Genoa ai supplementari: ai quarti Sassuolo o SPAL" [Italian Cup - Juventus beats Genoa in extra time: Sassuolo or SPAL in the quarterfinals] (in Italian). FC Inter 1908.
  9. "La Juventus U23 strapazza l'Albinoleffe: 3-0, in rete anche Dragusin. In campo Ake" [Juventus U23 beat Albinoleffe: 3-0, Drăgușin also scored. Ake on the field] (in Italian). TUTTOmercatoWEB. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  10. "Dragusin, è rinnovo!" [Drăgușin is renewed!] (in Italian). Juventus F.C. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. "UFFICIALE Sampdoria, Dragusin in prestito dalla Juventus" [OFFICIAL Sampdoria, Drăgușin on loan from Juventus] (in Italian). TUTTOmercatoWEB. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  12. "Gazzetta Dello Sport, laude pentru români! Radu Drăgușin și Răzvan Marin, cei mai buni în meciurile din Serie A" [Gazzetta Dello Sport, praises for Romanians! Radu Drăgușin and Răzvan Marin, the best in their Serie A matches] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021. He shows great personality, even if used in a position [of a right defender] that is not specific of him.
  13. "Radu Dragusin è un nuovo giocatore della Salernitana" [Radu Drăgușin is Salernitana's new player] (in Italian). U.S. Salernitana 1919. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  14. "Salernitana-Spezia 2-2, due magie di Verdi non bastano ai granata" [Salernitana-Spezia 2-2, two magic tricks from Verdi are not enough for the Burgundies]. la Repubblica (in Italian). 7 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  15. "Adrian Mutu a anunțat lotul României pentru Euro 2021! Ce jucători vor merge în Ungaria și Slovenia" [Adrian Mutu announced Romania's squad for Euro 2021! What players will go to Hungary and Slovenia] (in Romanian). Eurosport România. 14 March 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  16. "Prima reacție a lui Adi Mutu, după eliminarea de la EURO 2021: "Băieții trebuie felicitați". Cum a explicat schimbările" [Adi Mutu's first reaction, after the elimination from EURO 2021: "The boys must be congratulated". How he explained the changes] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  17. Team, FRF Editorial. "Cele 24 de convocări preliminare pentru partidele României cu Grecia și Israel | Federația Română de Fotbal". Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  18. "Se conturează noua generație! Radu Drăgușin a debutat în naționala mare a României". Sport.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  19. "Radu Drăgușin". European Football. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
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