Gonzalo García García


Gonzalo Manuel García García, 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.

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.

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 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 SD 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.

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv