Nine goals and 12 assists in 60 appearances for Rapid Bucharest, led OGC Nice to buy Ilie in the summer of 2022. Ilie played for Nice in the two Conference League Playoff matches against Maccabi, and made 8 appearances for the French outfit this season.

A member of Romania’s Under 21 squad, Ilie also scored 2 goals in 10 international appearances for his country’s Youth (U19) team.

Karanka, a former defender at Ahtletic Bilbao (1993-1997 and 2002-2006), Real Madrid (1997-2002) and MLS outfit Colorado Rapids (2006) also represented Spain’s national teams at U21, U23 and senior levels.

Following his retirement as a player he was appointed in 2008 as Spain U16 coach and two years later he joined Real Madrid and worked for three years as Jose Mourinho’s assistant.

In November 2013 Karanka was appointed as manager of Championship outfit Middlesbrough before guiding the Riverside Club to the promotion Playoff Final. After four years at Middleborough during which he helped M’boro win promotion to the Premier League (2015/16), Karanka had spells at Nottingham Forrest (2018/19), Birmingham City (2020/21), and La Liga side Granada (2022).