Renowned for his dribbling ability, Dobrin received the Romanian Footballer of the Year award on three occasions, in 1966, 1967, and 1971, and has a stadium in native Pitești named after him.

[11][12] At the winning of the 1978–79 title, he formed another successful offensive trio, this time with Marin Radu and Doru Nicolae, Dobrin contributing with 9 goals scored in 22 matches, being decisive in the final game of the season against Dinamo București in which he scored the final goal of the 4–3 victory, his performance being appreciated by journalist Ioan Chirilă who gave him a 10 in the Sportul newspaper.

[15] In the 1972–73 European Cup, Argeș Pitești passed Aris Bonnevoie in the first round against whom he scored three goals, then in the following one they won a home game with 2–1 against Real Madrid in which Dobrin opened the score but lost the second leg with 3–1, however this was enough for Real Madrid's president Santiago Bernabéu to want him at the club, making a potential record breaking offer of $2 million and a nocturne installation for the 1 Mai stadium from Pitești.

[6][15][16][18][19][20] Because of the communist regime in Romania in that period, Bernabéu had to hold talks with dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu himself, but could not persuade him, because Dobrin was regarded as a "national treasure" and such values could not be "estranged", especially not playing in a team from the country of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship.

It is said that this was the biggest regret of Dobrin's life, although he did eventually end up playing in Francisco Gento's testimonial, in the famous "blanco" shirt of Real Madrid.

[18][19][22] In the 1978–79 UEFA Cup, Argeș Pitești defeated in the home game Valencia with 2–1, Dobrin opening the score from a indirect free kick and according to his former teammate Andrei Speriatu, after the game, Mario Kempes who just won the World Cup with Argentina, being the top-goalscorer and best player of the tournament went to Dobrin and told him:"You are a great player!

[1][29] He made a good impression in the game showing his dribbling abilities in front of West Germany's experimented midfielder Horst Szymaniak and after the game, the former World Cup winner Fritz Walter went into Romania's locker room telling Dobrin: "Boy, if you're good and will drink a lot of milk, you're going to be a great player!

[6][30][31] He played six matches and scored two goals at the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where Romania was defeated by Hungary who advanced to the final tournament.