Former Foreigners

[GS1905]

After the premature death of former Bursaspor legend Majeed Rasheed Mususi, I decided to research a few about former foreign players that played in our country. First up, I'll start with the Romanians.

ADRIAN ILIE (former GALATASARAY - BESIKTAS player)

Ilie left Galatasaray on January 98 to join Valencia. He was Galatasaray's only memorable sale in terms of profit (€11.5M). He had a mixed spell at Valencia, at times he was a hero at times he was seen as a worthless player. In 2001, he joined fellow Spanish team Alaves and after a two season spell there he joined Besiktas in Jan 2004. He played in 13 games and scored 2 goals for the Eagles and then went to Poli Timisoara the following season. At the start of this season he was at FC Zurich but he is now clubless. He's 32 now and he's remembered as the most profitable sale in Galatasaray's history by Turkish fans.

SEBASTIAN JULIAN FILIPESCU (former GALATASARAY player)

"Killer Filip" according to Galatasaray fans, played two seasons at Ali Sami Yen before joining Betis on a €2.3M deal. The Romanian spent six seasons at Betis and even captained the side in 2005. At the beginning of this season he signed for FC Zurich and is still there on 33 years of age.

IONEL BOGDAN LUTU (former GALATASARAY player)

Lutu made only three appearances for Galatasaray and ever since 1998 he changed a hatful of clubs. In a stormy and injury-plundered career, he played for National Bucharest, Suwon Samsung, Busan Ikons, FC Brashov and Paphos AE. His current destination is Kazakhstan, where he is playing for Central Kariat.

RADU HORIA NICULESCU (former GALATASARAY - ANKARAGUCU player)

Radu played a key role in Galatasaray's ultimate title in 2002 and then signed for Besiktas and Ankaragucu in the summer 2002. He made no appearances for the Eagles but he played 7 games for Ankaragucu and scored 2 goals. He's now at Changchun of China. Galatasaray fans all have a sweet memory of him.

[GS1905]

SHOTA ARVELADZE (former TRABZONSPOR player)

Shota is probably the greatest foreign player of Trabzonspor history. He left for AFC Ajax in 1997 and always failed to establish himself a first team slot. He moved to Glasgow Rangers FC on 2002. After three years at Ibrox, he's now at the rising Dutch club, AZ Alkmaar.

ARCHIL ARVELADZE (former TRABZONSPOR player)

Archil has never been as good and as lucky as his twin brother. He left Trabzonspor in January 1998 to join FC Koln but he was early out-of-favour there. He then joined Vitesse in 1999 only to make two appearances. On Jan 2000, he moved to Israeli club Hapoel Rishon and scored 15 goals in 12 games. After this peak in his career he struggled to find form and he never made any impact in his spells at Beroe Stare Zagora of Bulgaria, Samtredia Batumi of his native Georgia and Sembeelan of Malaysia.

[GS1905]

MABOULA ALI LUKUNKU (former GALATASARAY player)

Lukunku joined Galatasaray in Jan 2003 for €3.4M from Standard of Belgium. He didn't prove to be a popular figure with the club though as he scored 3 goals in 14 appearances. On Jan 2004 he was sold to the French outfit Lens for €2M but he failed a drugs test and was banned for a six-month period. He moved to Ghent AA of Belgium in the summer transfer period of 2004. He scored 9 goals in 17 appearances before he was banned for an unrestricted period after he failed another drugs test in February 2005. He's clubless right now.

CESAR LUIZ PRATES (former GALATASARAY player)

Cesar Prates was signed from Sporting on a free transfer on July 2003. He was probably the most consistent player of the team in the 2003-04 season when the team had its crappiest domestic season in twenty-seven years. After scoring 5 goals in 34 matches, the free-kick expert right-back was surprisinglu sold out to Brasiliero runners-up Internacional for €1.2M. After half a season in Brazil, he joined Serie A underdogs Livorno for an estimated fee of €3.5M. He's in Italy right now.