Mihai Drăguș (Rom. Mihai Drăguș; born March 13, 1973, Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian footballer, a center forward. He played for Romanian, Korean, and Russian clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s; in Russia he spent two seasons, at Moscow's Torpedo and at Nizhny Novgorod's Lokomotiv.

Career

A product of the football school of Bucharest's Dinamo, he played for its first team in the 1995/96 season.[1] The following season he moved to Argeș from Pitești, where he played 20 matches and scored 3 goals.[1] In 1998 he played for the South Korean club Suwon Samsung Bluewings (4 matches), then returned to Romania to the club Argeș-Dacia (9 matches, 1 goal in the 1998/99 season).[1]

In 1999 Drăguș moved to Russia, signing a contract with Moscow's Torpedo. In the 1999 season he played 15 matches for the club in the top division and scored 1 goal — in an away game against Chernomorets (Novorossiysk) on October 16, 1999.[2] In 2000 he played another 7 league matches for Torpedo.[3] At the same time he played several games for the club's reserve squad, Torpedo-2, in the Second Division.[3] In total for Torpedo (Moscow) in Russian championships: 22 matches, 1 goal.[2]

At Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod

In the middle of the 2000 season Drăguș moved to Lokomotiv (Nizhny Novgorod), which played in the top division of the Russian championship. For the Nizhny Novgorod club he played 6 matches and scored 2 goals — both in a home game against Uralan (Elista) on August 5, 2000, at the Lokomotiv Stadium in front of 4,500 spectators (the match ended 2–0).[2] He also played 1 match in the 2000/01 Russian Cup.[3] His total statistics for Lokomotiv in Russian competitions: 7 matches, 2 goals.[3]

In an interview given in August 2000, Drăguș said that the club's management had provided him with a company apartment; he also said he intended to bring his wife and young son Denis to Nizhny Novgorod. The son was named in honor of the Russian footballer Denis Laktionov, whom Drăguș had met while playing in Korea.[4]

Overall statistics in Russia

Over two seasons in the Russian championship (1999–2000), Drăguș played for two clubs: Torpedo (Moscow) and Lokomotiv (Nizhny Novgorod). In total: 28 matches, 3 goals, 3 yellow cards in the top division; 3 matches, 1 goal in the Second Division; 2 matches, 1 goal in the Russian Cup.[2]

Sources

  1. footballfakts.ru — Dragush Mihai, born 03/13/1973. All footballers of Russia, the USSR, and the CIS. Information, biographies, teams, matches, goals, interviews
  2. 100bombardirov.ru — 100 Strikers — Russian Championship — Mihai Dragush
  3. teams.by — Dragush Mihai — Dr?gu? Mihai — footballer profile, player
  4. loko.nnov.ru — Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod — Dossier — Dragush Mihai — interview (08/18/00)
  5. fc-tambov.ru — Footballer Dragush Mihai — Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod, forward
  6. bombarder.narod.ru — 100 Strikers — All Strikers of Russia