Mihăiță Pleșan

Mihăiță Păunel Pleșan (born 19 February 1983) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder.

Club career
Mihăiță Pleșan was born on 19 February 1983 in Moldova Nouă, Romania and he started playing junior level football at age 9 at local club, Minerul. He started his senior career at FC Universitatea Craiova, making his Divizia A debut on 14 April 2001 under coach Ilie Balaci in a 2–0 away loss in front of Astra Ploiești. He scored his first goal in the competition on 15 April 2003 when he closed the score in a 2–1 win over Național București. In the 2004–05 season, Pleșan had the most prolific season of his career by scoring 8 goals, including two braces against CFR Cluj and Gloria Bistrița, however "U" Craiova relegated at the end of the season, so alongside several other teammates, he went to play for Dinamo București.

At Dinamo, Pleșan scored his first goal on September 2005 in a 5–2 win over rivals Rapid București, then he scored another one in November when he opened the score in a 2–1 away victory against FC Vaslui. He also started playing in European competitions, coach Ioan Andone using him four games in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign when the team eliminated Everton with a historical 5–2 on aggregate, reaching the group stage. After only half of season spent at the club, The Red Dogs sold him to Politehnica Timișoara for a fee estimated by the Romanian press between €750.000–800.000 where he was wanted by coach Gheorghe Hagi. He helped the team reach the 2007 Cupa României final where coach Valentin Velcea used him in the first 58 minutes of the 2–0 loss in front of Rapid. He started the 2007–08 season strong by scoring in the first two rounds a goal against Politehnica Iași and a brace with CFR Cluj, thus earning a transfer to Steaua București who paid a fee of €1.500.000, reuniting with coach Hagi. In June 2009, at the end of a game with Unirea Urziceni, Pleșan and teammate Sorin Ghionea got into a fight in the locker room. His spell with The Military Men was marked by injuries, managing to make only one appearance in the 2008–09 Champions League edition, a 1–0 home loss with Fiorentina in the group stage. After three years at Steaua, including playing a while for the team's satellite he was transferred by Russian second tier side, Volga Nizhny Novgorod for €100.000, helping it promote to the first league by the end of the season. Pleșan scored his first goal for Volga in the Russian Premier League on 2 April 2011 in a 2–0 win over Dynamo Moscow, then by the end of the season he scored a spectacular one from 25 meters, opening the score in a eventually 2–1 loss in front of Anzhi Makhachkala. During his period spent with Volga, he was teammate with fellow Romanians János Székely and Adrian Ropotan.

In September 2013, Pleșan returned to Craiova, signing with second league side, CS Universitatea. In September 2013, he and other teammates got into a brawl with opponents from ASA Târgu Mureș, receiving a two match ban for his acts. In November, while he was warming up before a derby with his former club, FC Universitatea, he got attacked by the opponents goalkeeper Andrei Preda who ended up being banned for 16 matches by the Romanian Football Federation's Disciplinary Commission. At the end of the 2013–14 season with him as captain, the team finished on the first position, earning promotion to Liga I where after being used rarely in the first half of the season, 31-year-old Mihăiță Pleșan ended his contract with the club, thus retiring, having a total of 158 appearances with 24 goals scored in the competition and also 6 games in European competitions without scoring.

International career
Mihăiță Pleșan played 7 games and scored one goal for Romania, making his debut on 16 November 2003 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field 73rd minutre in order to replace Flavius Stoican in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 loss front of Italy. In his following game, also a friendly, he opened the score when he took the ball 30 meters from the opponents goalpost, managed a "slalom" between 3 German defenders and finished with a splendid shot, with the laces, in the net of Oliver Kahn's goal as Romania earned a 5–1 win over Germany. Afterwards he was compared with Gheorghe Hagi by the Romanian press, also attracting the interest of coach Arsène Wenger who considered bringing him to Arsenal but the transfer was never fulfilled. In the following years Pleșan went on to play two games at the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, making his last appearance for the national team in a 2–0 home victory with Slovenia from the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

International goals

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

Honours
Politehnica Timișoara CS Universitatea Craiova
 * Cupa României runner-up: 2006–07
 * Liga II: 2013–14