[1] At age six and a half he started to play as a junior for Metalul (Faur) București, then a second division club, eventually reaching the first team.
After 159 appearances and 26 goals for NK Osijek and seven years spent at club, he transferred to Dinamo, where he won four national championships.
Shortly after UEFA Champions League champaign at Panathinaikos FC he returned to Croatia with HNK Rijeka.
But he disappointed me with his declarations after the match with Dinamo, when he told the press that I prefer to send on the field the foreign players of CFR Cluj", said coach Cristiano Bergodi.
I let him because I know what it means to be a player and to have no team where to train", said Lăcătuș, who did not change his mind about the transfer of Mitu at UTA Arad.
"I prefer to bring younger players, till 25–26 years old, but with some experience in Liga 1", said the coach of UTA Arad.