Radu Drăgușin

Radu Matei Drăgușin (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈradu maˈtej drəguˈʃin]; born 3 February 2002) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Genoa and the Romania national 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
Team information
Current team
 Genoa
Number 5
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)
2020–2023 Juventus 1 (0)
2021–2022 → Sampdoria (loan) 13 (0)
2022 → Salernitana (loan) 7 (0)
2022–2023 → Genoa (loan) 38 (4)
2023– Genoa 9 (0)
International career‡
2018 Romania U16 5 (0)
2018–2019 Romania U17 6 (1)
2019 Romania U19 3 (0)
2020– Romania U21 9 (0)
2022– Romania 11 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 26 October 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 October 2023

Drăgușin started out his senior career with the reserves of Italian club Juventus in 2020, and later that year registered his debut for the first team, aged 18. Following loans to Sampdoria, Salernitana, and Genoa, respectively, he signed a permanent contract with the latter in 2023.

Internationally, Drăgușin appeared for Romania under-21 in one match at the 2021 UEFA European Championship. The next year, he made his full debut in a 0–1 friendly loss to Greece.

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 loan at Sampdoria was prematurely interrupted, 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]

Genoa

On 14 July 2022, Drăgușin was loaned out to Serie B side Genoa with an option to buy.[15][16] On 25 January 2023, his agent announced that the permanent transfer clause had been triggered after he met several objectives, with the fee being around €5.5 million plus €1.8 million in conditional bonuses.[17]

Drăgușin amassed 40 appearances and four goals in all competitions during the 2022–23 season, as Genoa finished second in the league and earned direct promotion to the Serie A.

International career

Drăgușin was selected by manager Adrian Mutu for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship,[18] 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.[19]

Drăgușin was called up to the Romania senior team for the first time in March 2022,[20] and on the 25th that month made his debut by coming on in the 88th minute of a 0–1 friendly loss to Greece.[21]

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 26 October 2023[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 13020——150
Salernitana (loan) 2021–22 Serie A 70———70
Genoa (loan) 2022–23 Serie B 38 4 2 0 — — 40 4
Genoa 2023–24 Serie A 9 0 1 0 — — 10 0
Total 47430——504
Career total 785901050915
  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 15 October 2023
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 202230
202380
Total110

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. JuventusNews24, Redazione (14 July 2022). "Dragusin Genoa, trasferimento UFFICIALE: quanto guadagna la Juventus". Juventus News 24 (in Italian). Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  16. "RADU DRAGUSIN E' ROSSOBLU'". Genoa CFC (in Italian). 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  17. "Internaționalul român a fost cumpărat pentru 6 milioane de euro! Evoluțiile fotbalistului nostru i-au impresionat pe italieni". Prosport (in Romanian). 20 January 2023.
  18. "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.
  19. "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.
  20. Team, FRF Editorial. "Cele 24 de convocări preliminare pentru partidele României cu Grecia și Israel | Federația Română de Fotbal". Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  21. "Se conturează noua generație! Radu Drăgușin a debutat în naționala mare a României". Sport.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 27 March 2022.
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