A great talent in football, wasted with inconsistency outside the play field by a lifestyle that scandals, dubious relationships and criminal VIPs. On Thursday afternoon, he received the news: tested positive for the second time in his career, risking four years of suspension. This could be the end of an illusion that marked the last 10 years of the Romanian football: Adrian Mutu.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) announced on Thursday that Adrain Mutu has been tested positive for sibutramina in a doping test from January, after the match against Bari.

The football player received the news during the Thursday-afternoon training. Shocked, Mutu left the training session and talked to the "viola" team doctors the circumstances of the episode.

Paolo Monetti, Fiorentina's doctor, confirmed that the substance was contained by a drug that the player took on his own, most probably a pill used to lose weight.

On Thursday evening, the Tuscan club published an official communiqué saying that they have been informed by the CONI, adding hat they consider the player's good intentions and announced that there will soon give more enlightening details on the case.

"We have to believe in Mutu's good intentions", Fiorentina's sports manager Pantaleo Corvino says for the club's official website. The club's management will support the player in his attempt to prove he's innocence.

Mutu has seven days to decide if he is going to request the counter-expertise. According to the standard procedures, the Romanian football player, ex-Chelsea, may be suspended for at east a year and a maximum of four years.

Adrian Mutu player is preparing his defence - the player's mother has declared on Thursday evening that it was her who brought the pills to Italy in one of her visits, not so much for her son as for some friends. "Adrian must have taken them out of curiosity", Rodica Mutu declared. According to her, the drug's information sheet indicated that it was natural.