Career
He is the younger brother of Florin Costea. Universitatea Craiova
Costea played in Universitatea Craiova youth team Though his favorite positions are striker or winger, due to lack of players at Universitatea Craiova he was often used as a left midfielder.
This usually brought criticism to Universitatea Craiova officials.
Steaua București
Costea was transferred to Steaua București for a reported transfer fee of €1.4 million. In July 2013, Costea was excluded from the team, after refusing to comply with the team schedule, being unhappy that he wasn"t called for game against Vardar Skopje, in the Champions League qualifying stage.
In 2015, while playing for Football Club Voluntari, Costea was caught by paparazzi while betting in an agency. He was immediately released by Voluntari.
Costea was a Romania U-21 international being capped thirteen times and scored one goal against Latvia U-21 on 14 November 2009.