“It also mattered that I got married. My dream is the national team, I'm only 27 years old, not 35!”

It was a promise of Romanian football. But, somehow, he lost his way and in recent years has entered a shadow cone, always leaving the feeling of a footballer with potential, but who is wasted. Now, however, the striker of the Arad has completely changed, becoming the main scorer of his team.

Valentin Costache, revitalized at UTA Arad

Even he admits that “no, I wasn't satisfied with myself, although even then I did everything according to the book. I was a professional, I always prepared to the maximum, I gave everything in training. It's just that in matches, in the important moments, there, in the last 20 meters, where it matters for a striker, I lost my lucidity and nothing came out of me”.

He remembers that, “for example, at Rapid, I was doing everything well, but I didn't manage to score. Now, when I think about it, I realize that I lacked calmness in front of the goal, I was rushing.

I was even recently talking to my godfather, George Țucudean, who was also telling me that I used to be different than I am now. That I lacked those 2-3 seconds of concentration, lucidity in front of the goal. But now I'm much better.”

Valentin Costache, revitalized: “At UTA I felt they trusted me!”

Costache's revival came with the transfer to UTA, in the previous championship. But not from the beginning, but towards the end of the regular season, when he started to appear on the scoreboard more often.

And in this championship, he became the striker he promised to be at the beginning, when he attracted attention at Dinamo, 8-9 years ago.

He believes that “the accumulated experience, the maturity that has come over the years, everything I've been through has helped me become who I am today. And this year, 2025, is by far the best of my career.

Valentin Costache and his son, Ryan Ioan

I couldn't say that it was a special moment, something that would have produced a restart. The fact that I got married, that I am the father of a wonderful little boy, Ryan Ioan, for two years and five months, also contributed.

Valentin Costache with his wife

Sometimes I think too, I wonder what has changed. And I think the most important thing was that I felt from the beginning that the people here, from Arad, appreciate me. I had come to UTA for a year and finished the contract last summer. I had played with Mircea Rednic, I can't complain, and it really felt. But I only scored 6 goals all season.

Now, in the summer, Adrian Mihalcea came and I was offered another contract, for another two years. And that made me feel like I was important to this team. And you think that you have to return all this trust somehow. I think that's where it all started.

Plus, as I said before, the accumulated experience, the fact that I have matured, that I am no longer a kid. And I came to enjoy football, because I also have this peace offered by the family, as a child, you see life differently, you are more responsible, more assumed”.

Everything was not always rosy at UTA. He recalls that “I also had weaker games, and Mr. Mihalcea really helped me. He was also the striker, he told me where I was wrong, we had discussions. There were things that I saw differently, but I realized that I had to give more.

Over the years, I've really become calmer, more detached, I see the game differently. Until now I didn't have this calm, this peace. Look, this year, the home match against Csikszereda (0-0) was the hardest moment for me, personally. I didn't play well at all, I didn't help anything, neither in attack nor in defense.

I then had a separate discussion with “Mister”. He told me he wanted more from me. But the good, beautiful moments were much more this season. Now I'm happy, I'm healthy and it's clear that for this reason I have more success!”.

“Banderola makes you even more responsible!”

Since last season, Valentin Costache was assigned by Mircea Rednic to wear the captain's armband, in the matches in which Benga was absent. And now she wears it even more often. Valentin says that “I am the same with the captain's armband and without it.

But the fact that you wear it really makes you more responsible, to take on more during the game, to somehow give a signal to the team, especially when it's difficult. That's why I'm all the more proud of my achievements this year, 10 goals, 8 of them in the championship, plus 3 assists. And I hope to continue like this when the season resumes”.

He says that “at us, at UTA, everyone, from the coach to the maid, is modest and ambitious. “Mister” lives every match to the fullest, he transmits to us from the bench this desire not to give in. We are not Messi or Ronaldo, but we have this ambition not to give up. We came back twice from 0-3 and that is no small thing.

I also joke with Alin Roman and tell him that only he is Messi. But our quality is that we are hard workers, and the atmosphere in the locker room is great. We are not talking about goals. We just aim to win match by match. And if the wins continue to string together, yes, of course we hope for more.

Even in the playoffs. But it is still early to say, we are 5 teams in 3 points. In 5 more stages I could say if we really have a chance to get a place in the play-offs”.

Gym, sauna and cold water pools

Valentin Costache is passionate about physical training. He works out in the weight room almost every day. Not only at the team, before training, but additionally. “I like going to the gym, taking care of myself, including what I eat.

You have to take care of yourself, your body. It's your strength, your work, your weapon. I am among the first to train and start with 45-60 minutes in the gym. After training, I go home, stay with my family, rest, then go to the gym again, at Gemisport, the gym of the Țucudean godfather.

I work there for about an hour and a half. Plus I take a sauna and then directly bathe in the pool outside, with cold water. It's not hard, the first 30 seconds are more difficult, then you get used to it. But it's important to me.

If I have a game on Saturday, I do this from Monday to Thursday. And if a day happens to go by and I don't do it, I feel guilty that I didn't go. It becomes a way of life, and I feel that it helps me”.

“I'm still thinking about the national team, I haven't given up on my dream!”

Valentin Costache's last important appearance for the national team was as a “youth”, in November 2020, in the match with Denmark, when he scored in the draw (1-1) that took Adrian Mutu's team to the final continental tournament. After that, in 2021, he made two more appearances for Romania U23.

Valentin Costache gives a long sigh when you ask him if he still thinks about the national team: “Of course I haven't given up, it's my dream! I'm only 27 years old, not 35! But honestly, I know it's very difficult to reach the big national team, where there are very valuable players, able to make a difference.

I've been through a lot in this career too. And the hardest thing was when I couldn't go to that final U21 tournament, after I had scored the goal that ensured our qualification. I was unlucky, I got COVID and even though I tried all the treatments, I couldn't test negative in time to get there.

It was hard to watch the final tournament of colleagues on TV. But maybe that also strengthened me, made me the person I am today, calmer, to look at things differently. And I'm not giving up on this dream, of reaching the national team!”.

“I get along very well with the fans. They have always been by our side, they also accompany us on trips. They still stop me in the street, congratulate me when it goes well, they even argue with me when we don't win, but that's how it is in football. It's important that they know that I give everything I have on the field. And the same with the team. That sometimes it doesn't work out for us, that's another story. But this season things are going well, we're up there, and I think we can go even higher”
Valentin Costache, UTA captain

“I spend the holidays at home, I haven't gone anywhere, I'm sitting quietly with my family, with the boy, who is already crazy about the ball. For 2026, I want us to be healthy, and I want to continue the same! Because that's the key to success, to be consistent. I enjoy football, to help the team, to score”