Mitchell van der Gaag (born 22 October 1971) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back, currently the assistant manager of Manchester United.
As a manager, van der Gaag led several teams including Marítimo and Belenenses in Portugal, as well as Excelsior and NAC in his country.
Playing career
Van der Gaag was born in Zutphen, Gelderland. After graduating from PSV Eindhoven's youth academy, he spent three seasons on loan to NEC Nijmegen and Sparta Rotterdam, returning to Eindhoven for a further three years but never being an important first-team figure, however.
Van der Gaag retired from football in 2007, having spent one season with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.[5] In July of the following year, he returned to Marítimo as a coach and took the reins of its B team.
In October 2009, after Carlos Carvalhal's dismissal following a string of bad results, van der Gaag was promoted to the main squad.[6] After helping them finish fifth – a place conquered in the last round with a 2–1 away win against Vitória de Guimarães, who were leapfrogged in the process – and qualify for the Europa League,[7] his contract was renewed for a further year.
On 14 September 2010, after collecting only one point in the league's first four matches and being ousted by BATE in the Europa League, van der Gaag was sacked by Marítimo.[8] He returned to management after nearly two years, still in Portugal, signing with Segunda Liga side Belenenses.[9] In his first season, he won the league, thus returning the club to the top flight after three years.[10][11]
Van der Gaag took a temporary leave of absence in late September 2013 due to heart problems, after feeling unwell during a league game against former side Marítimo (1–0 home win).[12] In February 2015, he was appointed at Ermis Aradippou of the Cypriot First Division,[13] being released after just one month after refusing to renew his contract for the following campaign.[14]
Van der Gaag was appointed assistant manager of the first team of on 1 June 2021, replacing the departing Christian Poulsen. His position at the reserves was filled by John Heitinga, who had previously worked in the youth academy.[19]
On 23 May 2022, Van der Gaag was confirmed as assistant head coach of Manchester United, along with Steve McClaren, to work with first team head coach Erik ten Hag, who he previously worked with at Ajax.[20]
On 26 November, In a Premier league match against Everton at Goodison Park, With Erik Ten Hag suspended, Van der Gaag was the Coach on the sidelines as they won 3-0.
Personal life
Van der Gaag's father Wim was also a footballer, who was one of the first professionals in the Netherlands in 1954.[21] His sons Jordan and Luca also went into the game, representing Belenenses.[22]
^"Al-Nassr zet Van der Gaag op straat" [Al-Nassr show door to Van der Gaag] (in Dutch). Voetbal International. 5 September 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^Abecasis, João Pedro; Ferreira, Nuno Miguel (29 May 2012). "Van der Gaag por três épocas" [Van der Gaag for three seasons]. Record (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
^Larkos, Panos (25 March 2015). «Ευχαριστώ για την ευκαιρία...» [«Thank you for the opportunity...»] (in Greek). Sentra Goal. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
^Pereira, Sérgio; Alvarenga, Vítor Hugo (2 October 2021). "O futebol português também é uma questão de ADN" [Portuguese football is also a question of DNA] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 12 October 2021.