Luca Novelli

Luca Novelli did not arrive at Csikszereda from elsewhere. He came up through the club's own academy, and his step into the senior squad was a promotion from within rather than a transfer.

He joined the Under-17 side at AFK Csikszereda Miercurea Ciuc in July 2024 and stayed with that group until October 2025, when he was moved up to the first team. The club had a full season and more of watching him at youth level before it made that decision, and his football to date has been played entirely in Miercurea Ciuc colours.

The senior game has so far been a matter of short spells. In the 2025/2026 league season he has been used mainly from the bench and has played roughly 59 minutes in total. He has not yet scored or set up a goal in those appearances.

For a Romanian player born in 2008, the pattern is one that clubs with a working academy hope to repeat: a teenager developed in-house, brought into the squad partway through a season and introduced gradually. Novelli's task now is to turn those brief substitute appearances into longer stretches on the pitch.