Soccer-Mutu leaves Petrolul, set to join new Indian league

Reuters

Sept 26 (Reuters) - Former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu left Romanian club Petrolul Ploiesti on Friday and is poised to join FC Pune City in the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL). "Petrolul decided to terminate Mutu's contract and the 35-year-old player is free to join any team he wants," the Ploiesti-based club said in a statement. Much-travelled Mutu is set to join the likes of Frenchmen Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires and David Trezeguet as well as World Cup winning Italian duo of Alessandro Del Piero and Marco Materazzi in the ISL. Co-owned by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, Pune, who also have a technical partnership with Mutu's former club Fiorentina, have confirmed their ongoing negotiation with the Romanian player. Mutu, who has played for a host of Italian clubs including Inter Milan and Juventus, returned to his homeland in the January transfer window after agreeing to leave French Ligue 1 club Ajaccio for Petrolul. Mutu is Romania's joint top international goal-scorer after netting 35 times in 77 internationals, the same goal tally as the great Gheorghe Hagi. The controversial striker has served two doping bans and broke his contract with Italy's Cesena in 2012 to join modest Corsican club Ajaccio, saying he would score more goals in Ligue 1 than Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The eight-team ISL is scheduled to run from Oct. 12 to Dec. 20. (Writing by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)