Radu Drăgușin
Radu Matei Drăgușin (; born 3 February 2002) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays mainly as a centre-back for Serie A club Salernitana, on loan from Serie A club Juventus, and the Romania national under-21 team. Early life. Drăgușin was born in Bucharest to Svetlana () and Dan Drăgușin, both former Romanian internationals in basketball and volleyball, respectively. He has a younger sister named Meira, who also plays basketball. Club career. Early career. Drăgușin was persuaded to football by his cousin, and joined the youth squads of Sportul Studențesc at the age of seven. He played at the  club for four years before its dissolution, and then moved to Regal Sport București where he was teammates with Octavian Popescu and Luca Florică among others. Juventus. In 2018, among interest from Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid, Drăgușin transferred to Italian club Juventus for a fee of €260,000. Initially assigned as an under-17 player, he quickly moved to the under-19 team. On 25 January 2020, midway through the 2019–20 Serie C season, Drăgușin made his debut for Juventus U23 against Pro Patria by coming on as a 36th-minute substitute for Raffaele Alcibiade. On 8 November, he  was called-up to the senior squad by Andrea Pirlo for a Serie A fixture against Lazio. He made his club and European debut on 2 December, appearing as a substitute in a 3–0 home victory over Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Drăgușin's league debut was made 11 days later, being brought on in the 90th minute for Matthijs de Ligt in a 3–1 away win over Genoa. On 13 January 2021, Drăgușin started his first match in the Coppa Italia, as his side defeated Genoa 3–2 after extra time. His first career goal came  for the under-23s on 13 February 2021, in a 3–0 away defeat of AlbinoLeffe. In April, Drăgușin's performances earned him a four-year contract extension at Juventus. Loans to Sampdoria and Salernitana. On 31 August 2021, Drăgușin was sent out on loan to fellow-Serie A club Sampdoria for one season. He recorded his debut on 22 October, in a 2–1 league win over Spezia in which he replaced injured Valerio Verre in the 19th minute. Five days later, he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 loss to Atalanta. On 31 January 2022, after his initial loan  at Sampdoria was interrupted prematurely, Drăgușin moved to Salernitana on loan for the remainder of the season. He made his debut for them on 7 February, starting in a 2–2 draw to Spezia. International career. Drăgușin was selected by manager Adrian Mutu for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, having previously made two appearances for Romania in the qualifiers. He only featured once in the final tournament, as he replaced injured Alex Pașcanu in the 63rd-minute of a goalless draw with Germany. Drăgușin was first called up with Romania in March 2021. On 25 March, Drăgușin made his debut  in a 1–0 defeat to Greece coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute. Style of play. A tall and physical centre-back, Drăgușin has cited Virgil van Dijk as a point of reference, with whom he has since been compared to for his confidence in possession and positional sense. Drăgușin has also played as a right-back on occasion. Honours. Juventus U23 Juventus