He played for a string of European clubs in that period, including a four-year stint at PSV Eindhoven and winning the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray.

Gheorghe Popescu, nicknamed Baciul (The Shepherd) because he was known for his leadership skills was born on 9 October 1967 in Calafat, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1975 at local club, Dunărea.

[2][3][8] He made his Divizia A debut on 9 June when he entered on the second half, replacing Marian Bâcu in a 1–0 home victory with FCM Brașov.

[1][4][10][14] In his years spent at PSV, Popescu was a constant appearance for the team, also developing a good friendship with Brazilians Romário and Ronaldo.

[8][15][16] He was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on 9 September 1994 for a fee of £2.9million, being teammate with fellow Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu.

[17][18][19] He played 23 times in the Premier League and scored three goals, including the only one in a home win with Arsenal when he defeated goalkeeper David Seaman after a counter-attack, helping Spurs (who changed manager from Ossie Ardiles to Gerry Francis a few weeks after Popescu arrived) finish seventh in the league – their highest finish for five years.

However, after less than a year in England, he left Tottenham to sign for Spanish club Barcelona for £3million, succeeding Ronald Koeman in the team.

[5][24] Popescu also scored once in a 3–1 over Sevilla in the round of 16 of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup as Barça reached the semi-finals at which stage they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich.

[1][2][4][5][8][10][27] After leaving Barcelona during the summer of 1997, he was transferred to Galatasaray of Turkey, where he reunited with Hagi, Romanians Adrian Ilie and Iulian Filipescu also being at the club.

[15][28] He made his Turkish league debut on 31 July under coach Fatih Terim in a 0–0 with Ankaragücü, scoring his first goal in the competition on 26 September in a 4–1 home win over Şekerspor.

[8][34] After 12 years, Popescu returned to his native Romania in 2002, signing with Dinamo București, wearing the captain armband from his first game, a 5–0 win over Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț on 17 August.

[8] His final team of his career was Hannover 96 from Germany, making his Bundesliga debut on 8 February 2003 when coach Ralf Rangnick sent him on the field at half-time in order to replace Kostas Konstantinidis in a 4–2 victory against FC Nürnberg.

[1][4][40] Popescu played 115 matches and scored 16 goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 20 September 1988 at age 20 under coach Emerich Jenei in a friendly which ended with a 3–0 win against Albania.

[41] In the first game from the group stage he had a very appreciated performance in the 2–0 win over Soviet Union, the following day his agent Mircea Petescu presenting him a contract offer from Real Madrid which he eventually did not sign, choosing PSV Eindhoven.

[41][49] They were defeated with 1–0 by Croatia in the round of 16 after a goal scored from a penalty by Davor Šuker which was awarded after a duel between Aljoša Asanović and Popescu.

[41] Jenei used him as a starter in all three group stage matches, in the last one he was captain as Hagi was suspended but he got injured after the first 30 minutes, being replaced with Miodrag Belodedici as The Tricolours defeated England with 3–2 and qualified to the quarter-finals where they lost with 2–0 in front of Italy, without Popescu playing.

[52] In 2000 he opened the "Gheorghe Popescu Football School" in his native Craiova which launched players like Ionuț Rada, Adrian Stoian, Sabrin Sburlea, Constantin Grecu or Ovidiu Burcă.

[61] On 4 March 2014, Popescu and seven others, among them Mihai Stoica, were convicted by a Romanian appeals court of money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the transfer of football players from Romania to other countries.