[1][10][11][12] He eventually was transferred by Shakhtar Donetsk who paid one million$ to Dinamo, being teammate with fellow Romanians Flavius Stoican, Daniel Florea, Ciprian Marica and Răzvan Raț and coached by Mircea Lucescu.
[1][10][13] He made his Vyshcha Liha on 15 July 2004 in a Klasychne derby which was won 2–0 with Dynamo Kyiv, scoring his first goal in the competition on 29 October in a 2–1 away victory against Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih.
[1] In 2005 he was loaned at Krylya Sovetov where he was teammate with compatriot Florin Șoavă but made only two Russian Premier League appearances, the first one taking place on 10 September when coach Gadzhi Gadzhiyev used him the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home loss in front of Torpedo Moscow.
[18] His next loan spell was at Super League Greece side PAOK Thessaloniki, for the 2006–07 season, making his debut in the competition on 19 August 2006 as coach Ilie Dumitrescu used him all the minutes in a 0–0 with AEK Athens.
[1][7][19] After one season in which he played regularly at PAOK, he remained in the league, signing with OFI Crete where on his debut which took place under coach Reiner Maurer on 2 September 2007 he scored one goal in the 3–2 victory against Apollon Kalamarias.