Constantin Barbu

Constantin "Jean" Barbu (born 16 May 1971) is a Romanian retired professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder.

Club career Early career and Argeș Pitești Barbu, nicknamed "Cobra", was born on 16 May 1971 in Galați, Romania and began playing football at CSȘ Galați. In 1989, he went to Piteşti to participate in a football trial, where he was one of the six children chosen from a total of 1,600. He began playing senior-level football at Dacia Pitești, moving to Divizia B club Argeș Pitești in 1992. From 1997 onwards, he formed an offensive partnership with Adrian Mutu.

Samsung Bluewings and Argeș Pitești In September 1997, after scoring a hat-trick in a 4–2 away win over Chindia Târgoviște, Barbu was transferred from Argeș to Samsung Bluewings for a $1.3 million fee. During the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, Barbu played six games and scored four goals—including two each against Dinamo Baku and İstanbulspor to help Argeș advance through the qualifying rounds—before the team was defeated by Celta Vigo in the first round.

Rapid București Midway through the 1998–99 season, Barbu was transferred from Samsung Bluewings to Rapid București for $500,000. The team also reached the 1999 Cupa României final, where he played as a starter under coach Mircea Lucescu, scoring a brace in the loss to rivals Steaua. Subsequently, he played in both legs and scored once in the 5–4 aggregate loss to Skonto Riga in the 1999–2000 Champions League second qualifying round.

Numancia and Rapid București For the 1999–2000 season, Barbu moved to Spain and joined Numancia, which paid a $1.2 million fee to Rapid for his transfer. He made his La Liga debut on 22 August 1999, when coach Andoni Goikoetxea used him as a starter in a 1–0 win over Real Valladolid. Barbu netted his first goal in the competition on 12 December in a 3–3 draw against Real Zaragoza, and one week later he scored once again in a 2–1 victory against Racing Santander. Those six goals in his 34 appearances helped the Soria side avoid relegation. During his second year —which he finished on loan at Rapid— he made eight goalless appearances and was joined by compatriot Laurențiu Roșu, but Numancia was ultimately relegated. Barbu played only 11 matches and scored two goals during the 2001–02 Segunda División; his season was cut short by a serious injury when Gerhard Poschner broke Barbu's leg during a victory against Polideportivo Ejido, a match in which Barbu had netted a double. He ended his career after playing 17 matches and scoring eight goals for Dacia Mioveni during the 2003–04 Divizia B season. He made his debut on 6 September 1997, when coach Anghel Iordănescu introduced him at halftime to replace Gheorghe Craioveanu, and he went on to score once in the 8–1 win over Liechtenstein in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. His following appearance was in a 4–0 victory against Iceland during the same qualifiers, where he won a penalty that Gheorghe Hagi converted to become Romania's all-time top scorer.

Career statistics International

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Barbu goal.

Honours Dacia Pitești Divizia C: 1991–92 Argeș Pitești Divizia B: 1993–94 Rapid București Divizia A: 1998–99 Cupa României runner-up: 1998–99 Individual Divizia A top-scorer: 1997–98 (joint with Vasile Oană)