Premier League cult hero reveals he was once a 'spy' and snitched on his teammates for 'secret police'

A former Premier League player was once employed as a spy tasked with snitching on his teammates for the 'secret police'.

Gheorghe Popescu made his name in Romania, where he began his career with Universitatea Craiova, where he acted as an informant on his teammates who were feared to be defection risk as they were regularly playing European football in the late 1980s.

He originally denied helping the 'secret police' that was under the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceacescu, who was the second and last communist leader of Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989.

However, Popescu later admitted to signing a document promising to 'defend the national interests'.

He was one of 700,000 informants in the country at the time - equating to 4 per cent of the population.

In 1989, when communism fell in Romania, the defender joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, where he spent four years, making 130 appearances across all competitions.

He then moved to the Premier League, signing for Tottenham in a transfer worth £2.9 million.

Popescu lasted just one season, playing 28 games in the 1994/95 season.

He moved to Barcelona amid interest from Real Madrid before playing for Galatasaray, Lecce, Dinamo Bucharest and Hannover.

Gheorghe Popescu in action for Hannover. Image: Getty

After calling time on his career, Popescu returned to the spotlight as he made headlines for all the wrong reasons as he was convicted by a Romanian appeals court of money laundering and tax evasion in 2014.

He was sentenced to a jail term of three years and one month but was released after 18 months for good behaviour.

Popescu, now 57, is the chairman of Liga 1 side Farul Constanta, where his son Nicolas plays.