Gonzalo García (footballer, born 1983)

Gonzalo Manuel García García (born 13 October 1983), sometimes known simply as Gonzalo García or Gonzalo, is a professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Portuguese club Arouca.

Born in Uruguay, Gonzalo moved to Spain at the age of 13 and joined Real Madrid as a teenager, but never made it past the third team or played any higher than Segunda División B in Spain, spending most of his career in the Dutch Eredivisie as well as in Cyprus and Israel.

Early life
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Gonzalo moved to Spain at the age of 13, to his grandparents' native Galicia. He was nicknamed after Uruguay and Inter Milan player Álvaro Recoba, who played in the same position.

He would eventually represent the Spain national under-17 team, at the same time as Andrés Iniesta, José Antonio Reyes and Fernando Torres. His performances attracted suitors such as A.C. Milan – who sent Franco Baresi to his home in the village of Os Tilos, Teo – but his cash-strapped club SD Compostela had already accepted an offer of 50 million pesetas (€300,000) from Real Madrid, a record for the capital team's youth teams.

Playing career
Gonzalo could never move past Real Madrid's 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 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.

In June 2011, Gonzalo moved to Cyprus with AEK Larnaca FC. 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.

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. He retired at the age of 34, following a spell with former youth club Compostela.

Coaching career
García started working as a manager immediately after retiring, acting as assistant at Esbjerg fB of the Danish 1st Division. On 16 May 2019, after one year in the same capacity at FC Twente, he was appointed their head coach. His contract was not renewed after it expired following the 2019–20 season.

On 16 June 2021, García was appointed head coach of Croatian Prva HNL side NK Istra 1961. After achieving 9th place in his first season, he finished 5th in 2022–23, missing out on Europe by one place; his team won against GNK Dinamo Zagreb, HNK Hajduk Split and local rivals HNK Rijeka. He then allowed his contract to expire, and was replaced by Mislav Karoglan.

In May 2024, García was introduced as the head coach of Portuguese club Arouca, with a contract for one season and an option to extend for another.

Player
Maccabi Tel Aviv
 * Israeli Premier League: 2012–13