 He was then brought back to Universitatea Craiova

In 2004, he joined Rapid Bucureşti along with his teammate from Universitatea Craiova, Ionut Stancu.From Rapid he was loaned one season to Progresul Bucureşti, where he gained 14 appearances and scored two goals, one of the two goals was against his current team Steaua Bucureşti.That goal made Walter Zenga, Steaua Bucureşti's manager at that time, resign.