Former Chelsea and Juventus striker Adrian Mutu has announced his retirement from football and been named the new general manager of Dinamo Bucharest.
Mutu, 37, played for 13 different clubs during a nomadic career that frequently courted controversy, most recently turning out for ASA Turgu Mures in his native Romania, and retires level with the legendary Gheorghe Hagi as his country's all-time top international scorer with 35 goals.
"Playing is over for me," he told Europa FM. "Today I started to attend coaching school, where we're coaching children between six and eight years.
"In mid-November, I'll finish studying for my B Licence, though doing my A requires me to be an assistant Coach in the Romanian top flight. When I walked into the dressing room, the first things I asked were seriousness, discipline and punctuality."
Mutu made his name as a player with Dinamo, scoring 22 goals to fire the club to the Romanian league title in 2000 before heading to Italy, where he signed for Inter before impressing in spells at Verona and Parma.
OFICIAL. ADRIAN MUTU, manager general al FC Dinamo București
București, 12 octombrie 2016. Fostul mare internațional...
Posted by FC DINAMO BUCURESTI on Wednesday, 12 October 2016
Chelsea paid £15.8 million to acquire Mutu in August 2003, shortly after Roman Abramovich's takeover. The Romanian made a promising start to life at Stamford Bridge with four goals in his first three matches, but was sacked a year later and banned from football for seven months after testing positive for cocaine.
A lengthy legal battle ensued as Chelsea sought compensation from Mutu in the wake of the incident, culminating in FIFA ordering the Romanian striker to pay his former club around £14m.
Juventus were the next club to take a chance on Mutu in January 2005, but sold him to Fiorentina only 18 months later when they were relegated to Serie B as a result of the Calciopoli scandal.
Mutu rediscovered his best form in Florence, scoring 54 goals in 112 Serie A appearances and forming productive partnerships with Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino, but ended his time at Fiorentina under a cloud after serving another six-month suspension for taking banned anti-obesity drug sibutramine.
After leaving Fiorentina in the summer of 2011, Mutu spent the final years of his career enjoying spells at Cesena, Ajaccio, Petrolul Ploiesti and Indian Super League club Pune City, before returning to Romania earlier this year.
Mutu was capped 77 times by Romania and was named captain after the retirement of Christian Chivu in 2011. Only two years later, however, he was banned from playing for the national team after posting an edited picture of manager Victor Piturca as Mr. Bean on social media.