Gabriel Tamas

Central defender

Born:	Brasov	9th November 1983		Signed:	2 January 2010
Nationality:	Romania	Height:	6' 2"	From:	Auxerre
Caps:	42	Weight:		Fee:	Loan

Gabriel Sebastian Tamaş agreed a move to Albion on the 2nd of January 2010, on loan from French club Auxerre for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, with a view to a permanent move in the summer. He will provide much-needed cover at least while Abdoulaye Meite is on duty with Cote d'Ivoire in the African Cup of Nations; with Leon Barnett on loan to Coventry and a permanent move looking a distinct possibility, this would have left Albion with just two fit central defenders (not counting Gonzalo Jara whom RDM prefers to play in midfield).

At the time of writing, Albion are waiting for a work permit and international clearance - but he is expected to be eligible to play against Nottingham Forest on Friday 8th January.

Tamas was born in Brasov - in the centre of Romania, the country's eighth largest city - and he has played for two of the city's clubs, FC Brasov and Tractorul Brasov. He joined Dinamo Bucharest in 2002, aged 18, but left after only one year to join Galatasaray. Another year on he went to Spartak Moscow, but failed to settle there; after loan moves back to Dinamo Bucharest and to Celta Vigo, he joined Auxerre in the summer of 2007, but he spent the whole of the 2008-9 season and the first half of this one on loan to Dinamo yet again.

According to Wikipedia he was dropped in February 2009 (by Dinamo, presumably) following "an incident involving drinking alcohol drinks while in training". Wikipedia does link its source, but it's in Romanian! Wikipedia also says that "he was also elected captain of the team by his teammates".

He represented Romania at Euro 2008, when they failed to qualify for the knockout stages. Sky Sports described him as "a rising star in the Romanian defence .. [a] stopper ... who possesses an eye for goal". But they only rated his performance as 5 out of 10!

The Daily Mail reported in July 2008 - after the end of Euro 2008 - that Celtic tried to sign him for Ł4 million.