Rares Ilie leaves Nice after 10 games in four years to join Mantova in Serie B | OneFootball

Rares Ilie has left OGC Nice four years after arriving, joining Mantova in Serie B after only 10 appearances.

According to L'Équipe, the Romanian attacking midfielder never nailed down a place on the Côte d’Azur and was repeatedly loaned out. He joins in a bid to revive his career.

Six months after signing he went to Maccabi Tel Aviv for the second half of 2022-23, then spent the following campaign at Lausanne.

He returned to Nice for six months at the end of 2024, making his final appearance for Les Aiglons at Montpellier on matchday 15 of 2024-25. He then moved to US Catanzaro in winter before playing the whole of last season with Empoli, both in Serie B.

Nice had paid five million euros for Ilie in an ambitious window that also brought in Sofian Diop for 22 million euros, Gaëtan Laborde for 15 million, Alexis Beka Beka for 12 million, Youssouf Ndayishimiye for 11 million and Marcin Bulka for two million. He has been viewed as a clear flop.

Source: L'Équipe