This Romanian striker arrived at West Ham with a wealth of top flight European experience and fresh from Euro 1996, having caught Harry Redknapp’s eye during the tournament. But, it’s safe to say that he didn’t set the Premier League alight – even Raducioiu himself has called this move ‘a disaster’.
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He was a youth player with Dynamo Bucharest, getting into the first team aged just 17 in 1987. In 1993, Raducioiu moved to AC Milan, but only made 7 appearances and moved on to Spanish side RCD Espanyol.
While at West Ham, Florin made just 11 appearances and managed just 2 goals, although one was against Manchester United. He seems to be most famously remembered amongst Hammers fans for his fall out with Redknapp, who accused him of going shopping at Harvey Nichols on the day of an FA Cup tie instead of going to the game.
With his Premiership career a flop, he returned to RCD Espanyol with his tail between his legs and had short spells at a few European clubs before finally moving to French team US Cretiel-Lusitano, which would mark the end of his playing career.
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But what of the former forward now? Well, after a stint of first plying his trade as a sports agent and then becoming Sporting Director at Dynamo Kiev, Raducioiu now lives in Italy.
Of his time with the Hammers, Florin recently said:
“I am very sorry about what happened. I was an important signing for West Ham at that time and I remember Harry Redknapp wanted me a lot and Ilie Dumitrescu was a good friend of mine and playing there. I made a mistake, I wasn’t ready for English football.”
“I had my faults, I should have worked much harder to adapt to the English system.”
He added: “It is not true that before a cup game I went shopping and left the team without a striker.” Seems like the feud with ‘Arry is still alive and kicking!
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Sand particles on the beach,stars in the sky…..thus flops and West Ham Unites.
do u remember adi coker saw him a couple of times was brillant then he just vanished
i am romanian, and know more of what become of raducioiu. he recently got his coaching badges or whatever are called in italy and was named romania u15 manager saying he wants to learn his trade at this level before taking a bigger job. btw he was sporting director at dinamo bucharest, not dynamo kiev. i am not a fan of him by any means and only commented on this article just for the sake of information, he was a great striker for romania at the world cup in 94, but a dreadful piece of business for west ham(and he played for the worst team in the world – dinamo :D)