**It has been 10 months since Mitchell van der Gaag walked away from his position as Manchester United’s assistant coach in order to pursue a head coaching role. Since then, he’s remained in his home in Portugal, patiently waiting for a new opportunity and fielding calls from a number of teams.**
– By Zach Lowy @ZachLowy
The son of Wim van der Gaag, one of the first professional footballers in the Netherlands, Mitchell was born in Zutphen, near the German border. He developed in PSV Eindhoven’s academy and spent time on loan at middling Eredivisie sides NEC and Sparta Rotterdam before returning to Eindhoven. Unable to break into the starting line-up, the Dutch center back made the move to Scottish side Motherwell, where he helped them avoid relegation, before heading back to the Netherlands and playing for Utrecht from 1997 to 2001. He then spent five years at Portuguese side Marítimo before enjoying a swan song with Saudi outfit Al-Nassr and hanging up his boots at 34 years of age.
Similar to [Anthony Hudson](https://rg.org/news/soccer/anthony-hudson-reflects-on-globetrotting-career), Van der Gaag began his coaching career in 2008, starting off with Marítimo’s reserves before advancing to the first team. He then made the move to fellow Portuguese side Belenenses, where he helped guide to promotion. After commencing the 2013/14 season with four straight defeats, his Belenenses side looked set to pick up their first top-flight win of the campaign until a half-hour, when Van der Gaag suffered a cardiac arrest. He was revived by the medics and narrowly staved off death before deciding to take a leave of absence from coaching. Nearly two years later, Van der Gaag returned to coaching with Cypriot side Ermis until working with various teams in the Netherlands’ top tier and second tier – FC Eindhoven, Excelsior, NAC Breda and Jong Ajax.
In 2021, Van der Gaag took the first assistant coaching role of his career and served as Erik ten Hag’s right-hand man as Ajax won the Eredivisie title, before following him to Manchester United and winning the EFL Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. Today, he’s hungrier than ever for the next opportunity.
In an exclusive [RG](https://rg.org/news/soccer/mitchell-van-der-gaag-opens-up-on-time-at-manchester-united) interview, Mitchell spoke about various topics including:
**Working at Ajax**: “Although I’m Dutch, I didn’t know anything about Ajax and how they have a certain way of playing. That’s completely different to my philosophy as a coach. In Portugal, defensive organization is very important, you always have strikers and wingers who are quick and ready to play on the counter. Then you go to Ajax, and have to adapt…all of a sudden, the centre backs are playing with 70 meters of space in behind because they have to attack and squeeze up, they have to play on the opponent’s half. It was a really important chapter of my coaching career because I had to adapt and play a certain way, because all the players from the Academy play the same way. You get the defensive organization from Portugal, but I learned the attacking side of football in the Netherlands.
**Monitoring Jurriën Timber’s progress: “**Jurriën was only 18 years old when I arrived at the Ajax B. He played with us in my first season and then quickly made it to the first team. At a young age, he was already a leader with a very strong mentality. He is a very talented defender that can play as a centre back and also right back, and that’s important. That team from Ajax had many good players with potential to reach the first team and perform at the highest level, and it was not a surprise when he became a starter for the first team at only 19 years old. He had a serious injury when he moved to Arsenal, but this season he is showing his qualities and his potential. He is quite young yet, so I think he can continue to improve. I am happy to see him grow and developing into a great defender.”
**What he’s looking for in his next chapter:** “The main reason I left United is that I want to become a head coach again. It was always my ambition to become a head coach and lead a team again: every single minute, people are watching you, the spotlight is on you, and that’s the biggest difference between being a head coach and an assistant. I’ve stepped back from the day-to-day madness, gathered my ideas clearly about what I want to do, and gotten my energy back, but it’s about time to start again. Sometimes you choose a team, and then everything clicks and everyone gels, but sometimes you have to work for it. You can’t be too picky; you have to win and get the players behind you and from there, start building your project. It’s nice to have all those videos and presentations, but you need the results. You need people to support you, from the president to the sporting director. I’m open to anything, and I have the ambition and energy to start again.”
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