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Costel Pantilimon

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Costel Pantilimon

Costel Fane Pantilimon (Romanian pronunciation: [kosˈtel pantiliˈmon]; born 1 February 1987) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

As a player, Pantilimon was deployed as a goalkeeper and began his career at Politehnica Timișoara. In 2011, he signed for Premier League team Manchester City on an initial loan, serving as a backup to Joe Hart. Pantilimon was first choice for City in their 2013–14 League Cup conquest, after which he promptly moved to Sunderland. He transferred to Watford in 2016, but only made two Premier League appearances before being loaned to Deportivo La Coruña and Nottingham Forest. Pantilimon signed a permanent deal with Forest in 2018, and spent his later years at Omonia and Denizlispor before retiring.

Pantilimon was an international for Romania from 2008 to 2017, being capped 27 times during the period. He was selected by the country in their UEFA Euro 2016 squad, but did not play in any game.

Born in Bacău, Pantilimon started his career at Aerostar Bacău and got his share of limelight at the Romania national under-19 team before transferring to Politehnica Timișoara on 1 February 2006, his 19th birthday.

Initially, Pantilimon was Timișoara's second-choice goalkeeper, behind Marius Popa. In May 2008, however, the owner of the club, Marian Iancu, transferred Popa to the second team, and Pantilimon took the pole position. He made his debut in the Romanian Liga 1 against Dinamo București, in March 2007.

In a match against Ceahlăul on 17 October 2009, Pantilimon captained the team for the first time, since Dan Alexa, Gigel Bucur and Arman Karamyan and his brother Artavazd were all on the bench.

Pantilimon was part of the Timișoara team that defeated UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk in the qualifying rounds of the 2009–10 Champions League campaign. He played all 90 minutes of each leg.

On 11 August 2011, Pantilimon joined Manchester City on a one-year loan deal from Politehnica Timișoara to act as cover for Joe Hart following the departure of Shay Given.

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