On 9 May 2008, Cristea signed a five-year contract with Dinamo, just six days before turning 24. He called the transfer "a birthday present" and joined Dinamo after the summer holiday. He started scoring for the red and white team in the friendly games they played in pre-season. Cristea played only the first half on the season for Dinamo, netting two goals in eight matches and entering Dinamo's history by scoring the goal that brought the 1.000th victory of the team in all-time domestic championship, against Farul Constanta. Cristea again went on loan to Politehnica Iași, in the winter transfer window, where he was very well received and scored seven times in 15 games, goals which proved crucial in helping the team continue in the first division. Upon his return, he became a very important player, scoring goals that brought significant victories in Liga I and Europa League. He was the top scorer of the Romanian league in the 2009–10 season with 16 goals.
On 16 January 2011, Karlsruhe signed Cristea in the attempt of avoiding the relegation. On 13 February, Cristea scored two goals against the leader of Second Bundesliga, Hertha BSC. These were his first goals on this new club. On 27 February, he scored the last goal of the game in the 1–4 loss against FC Ingolstadt 04, after coming from bench. On 11 March, Cristea scored the first goal of the match in Karlsruhe-Duisburg, 3–1 final score. On 15 May, in the last round of the Second Bundesliga, the Romanian striker saved his club from relegation, scoring a brace in the 3–2 win against Union Berlin. The next season Karlsruhe were relegated after a play-off and Cristea became a free agent. Initially, Cristea wanted to stay in Germany, where he had offers from Ingolstadt and Energie Cottbus, but Dinamo approached him and he accepted to return to Bucharest where he had the chance to again work under Dario Bonetti. On 22 June 2014, Cristea signed a one-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Gabala FK. In December of the same year Cristea had his contract with Gabala terminated. Following his release he signed with Lega Pro side U.S. Salernitana 1919 until the end of the season.
Politehnica Iași
After playing for Salernitana and Martina Franca in the Italian Serie C, in February 2016, Cristea returned to Romania to join his former team, Liga I club Politehnica Iași. He subsequently signed a one and a half year contract with the Moldavian squad. He scored 7 goals in 17 games in the second half of the 2015–16 Liga I and helped Politehnica Iași qualify for the 2016–17 Europa League qualifying phasefor the first time in their history. He then opened the scoring in a 2–2 draw against Hajduk Split in their first European game. On 14 December 2018, in a game against Concordia Chiajna, Cristea scored a brace and reached 100 goals scored in the Romanian Liga I.
