CHRISTIANCHIVU: INTER CAREER PROBED CLOSELY

Christian Chivu had the best part of his football career at Inter Milan in terms of success and the number of years spent. The defender signed for the Nerazzuri from fellow Italian top flight team AS Roma in a €16m deal. Christian was seriously linked to the big Spanish duo of Barcelona and Real Madrid before he left Roma to join Inter Milan in the summer of 2007. He went on to spend seven years at the San Siro before calling time on his career as a professional footballer and embracing a new life in management. Chivu is presently the Inter Milan Primavera head coach having worked his way to the position from the various youth teams.

Chivu spent seven years with the Inter Milan first team and that was the most time spent by him in the first team in comparison to his other clubs. He spent around a year at CSM Resita in his native Romania before spending around a year during his stint with Universitatea Craiova. Christian Chivu spent four years each during his time at Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch top flight and at Italian capital club AS Roma.

Inter Milan gave Chivu a five-year deal when he signed for the club from Serie A rivals Roma and during the duration of his first contract at the club, he was able to win an unprecedented treble under the guidance of Jose Mourinho. The Nerazzuri won three trophies at the end of the 2009/10 season thus making them the first Italian team to achieve the feat. The trophies were the Champions League title, the Italian Serie A title and the Coppa Italia.

During the treble-winning season, Chivu was a regular at left-back as Mourinhofavoured the centre back partnership of Lucio and Walter Samuel. The Romanian was a versatile defender who can play left-back in addition to centre back.