Gonzalo García García

Gonzalo Manuel García García (born 13 October 1983), known simply as Gonzalo or Recoba as a player, is a former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and the manager of Dutch club FC Twente.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is García and the second or maternal family name is García.

Gonzalo
Gonzalo as a Heerenveen player in 2007
Personal information
Full name Gonzalo Manuel García García
Date of birth (1983-10-13) 13 October 1983
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Twente (manager)
Youth career
La Rinconada
Defensor
Compostela
Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2003 Real Madrid C
2003 Alcorcón 1 (0)
2004 Mérida 5 (0)
2004–2005 Palencia 19 (1)
2005–2006 AGOVV 35 (16)
2006–2008 Heerenveen 14 (1)
2008 → Heracles (loan) 16 (3)
2008–2011 Groningen 49 (7)
2010 → VVV (loan) 14 (3)
2011–2012 AEK Larnaca 23 (12)
2012–2014 Maccabi Tel Aviv 27 (4)
2013–2014 → Anorthosis (loan) 19 (9)
2014–2016 Anorthosis 15 (1)
2015–2016 → Heracles (loan) 8 (0)
2016–2017 Compostela 22 (7)
Total 267 (64)
National team
2001 Spain U17 3 (1)
2002 Spain U19 1 (0)
Teams managed
2017–2018 Esbjerg (assistant)
2018–2019 Twente (assistant)
2019– Twente
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early years

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Gonzalo moved to Spain at the age of 14, his grandparents hailing from Galicia.

He would eventually represent the Spain under-17 team, at the same time as Andrés Iniesta, José Antonio Reyes and Fernando Torres.[1]

Playing career

Gonzalo joined Real Madrid's youth system, but could never move past its third team as a senior. In his country of adoption he never played in higher than the third division, also representing AD Alcorcón, Mérida UD and CF Palencia.

In 2005, Gonzalo moved to the Netherlands, first with AGOVV Apeldoorn, being one of the leading top scorers in the second level season under manager Stanley Menzo. He immediately switched to the Eredivisie after signing with SC Heerenveen, playing his first match in the competition on 10 February 2007 against Vitesse Arnhem[2] but appearing rarely over the course of two seasons, finishing 2007–08 on loan to Heracles Almelo and helping the club narrowly avoid relegation.

Subsequently, Gonzalo signed with FC Groningen, penning a four-year deal with the Euroborg club. First-choice in his debut campaign – 28 matches, four goals – he was rarely played in 2009–10, being again loaned in the January transfer window, now to VVV-Venlo.[3]

In June 2011, Gonzalo moved to Cyprus with AEK Larnaca FC.[4] On the 14th, in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, he scored a hat-trick in an 8–0 away routing of Floriana FC.[5]

In June 2012, Gonzalo signed with Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv FC. He settled rarely in the following years, but did spend two seasons with Cypriot First Division club Anorthosis Famagusta FC, the first on loan.

Gonzalo returned to Dutch football on 4 August 2015, after agreeing to a contract at Heracles.[6] He retired at the age of 34, following a spell with former youth club SD Compostela.[7]

Coaching career

García started working as a manager immediately after retiring, acting as assistant at Esbjerg fB of the Danish 1st Division.[8] On 16 May 2019, after one year in the same capacity at FC Twente, he was appointed their head coach.[9]

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv

References
  1. Balado, Fran (3 July 2011). "El día que Baresi vino en busca de un joven talento a Santiago" [The day Baresi came to Santiago searching for a young talent]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  2. "Missen kansen breekt Heerenveen op" [Missed chances do Heerenveen in] (in Dutch). SC Heerenveen. 10 February 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  3. "Gonzalo García volgt Honda op bij VVV-Venlo" [Gonzalo García succeeds Honda at VVV-Venlo] (in Dutch). Voetbal International. 9 January 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  4. Balado, Fran; Antelo, Iván (27 June 2011). "Más talento gallego para Chipre" [More Galician talent for Cyprus]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  5. "Floriana 0–8 AEK Larnaca". UEFA. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  6. Balado, Fran (4 August 2015). "El gallego Gonzalo García «Recoba» retorna al fútbol holandés" [Galicia's own Gonzalo García «Recoba» returns to Dutch football]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  7. "Gonzalo García 'Recoba' ya es jugador de la SD Compostela" [Gonzalo García 'Recoba' is already a SD Compostela player] (in Spanish). SD Compostela. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  8. Dehn, Anders (1 June 2018). "Efter opsigelse fra sportsdirektør: Esbjerg mister også den anden assistent" [After sporting director dismissal: Esbjerg also lose the other assistant] (in Danish). Tipsbladet. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  9. "FC Twente kiest voor assistent García García als nieuwe trainer" [FC Twente choose assistant García García as new manager]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 16 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  10. Gómez, Pablo (27 April 2013). "La cruzada de Recoba" [Recoba's crusade]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2019.
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