László Sepsi It’s a name that should leave little to be missed by Benfica. A native left defender, the Romanian spent just six months at the club da Luz, even though he was linked to the Red team for several seasons.
Born in the city of Ludus, in Romania, Sepsi took his first steps in the sport at the local club, Muresul, finishing the training process between SS Targu-Mureș, Olimpia Satu Mare and Sporting Pitești, all of them modest Romanian clubs.
The left-footed player made his professional debut in 2004/05 with Gaz Metan, a club that no longer exists. In 2005 he accompanied his compatriot László Boloni, former Sporting coach, to French side Rennes, before returning to Romania through Gloria Bistrița the following season, where he stayed for a season and a half.
Sepsi left Romania again in 2008 and on January 12th of that year he was being announced as a reinforcement for Benfica. He arrived as a replacement for Miguelito, who had meanwhile left Luz, and was the alternative to the incumbent Léo. At the time, he was seen as the future of the Romanian national team. He made his debut for the Eagles on February 17, played one minute more added time and provided an assist for Nuno Assis’ goal against Naval.
However, what would have been a grand entry quickly turned into ignorance and erasure. Sepsi played nine consecutive games with the Eagles’ jersey, but ended up being caught in the final stretch of the season marked by the change of coaches between Camacho and Chalana. At the start of the following season, Quique Flores gave guidance to the left-footed player, who did not wear Benfica’s colors again.
International for Romania, Sepsi made 12 appearances and two assists for Benfica© Getty Images
Sepsi’s career continued in Spain, where he spent two consecutive seasons on loan at Racing Santander. It was while serving the Cantabrian club that he played against Lionel Messi and left the Argentine with scars. In a recent interview with the Romanian portal ProsportSepsi revealed that, in a ball dispute, he hit the Argentine in the knee and he had to leave the pitch on a stretcher. Messi would end up returning to the field of play later.
After his connection to Benfica ended, Sepsi returned to Romania in January 2010 to sign for Poli Timisoara. As the club did not obtain a registration license, the left-footed player was relegated to the local second division and fought with his team for promotion. In February 2012, Targu Mures, from the first division, was hired. After the relegation of this new team, he was signed by champions Cluj. At the beginning of 2014, he was loaned back to Targu Mures for six months. After access to the first division, the loan was extended for one year.
After this new adventure in Romania ended, Sepsi returned abroad and signed for German side Nuremberg in 2015/16. After three seasons in Germany, he became champion of the German second division and achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 2018. However, his contract expired that summer and the left-footed player joined Romanian club Universitatea Cluj, where he ended his career a year later.
Sepsi played 53 games for Nuremberg© Getty Images
What now, Sepsi?
After a few years without news about Lászlo Spesi, the former player became involved in the luxury real estate business and has already sold several homes.
Furthermore, Sepsi has entered a business that seeks to connect three seemingly distinct markets: bottled water, cryptocurrencies and real estate. The project is called River Token. Each water bottle has a unique code under the cap, which can be entered into a mobile app. For each valid code, the buyer receives a virtual point, which can later be converted into River cryptocurrency.
Every week Desporto ao Minuto presents you with a new edition of the section ‘What is made of…?’, which aims to remember the journey of some personalities from the football world who ended up falling into oblivion.
