Nicolás Alejandro Frutos Cortino (born 10 May 1981) is an Argentine football coach and retired player. A striker during his playing career, he is an assistant coach for Major League Soccer club D.C. United.[3]

Nicolás Frutos
portrait of Nicolas Frutos
Personal information
Full name Nicolás Alejandro Frutos Cortino[1]
Date of birth (1981-05-10) 10 May 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Santa Fe, Argentina
Height 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre forward
Youth career
0000–2000 Unión de Santa Fe
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2002 Unión de Santa Fe 41 (8)
2002–2003 San Lorenzo 26 (4)
2003 Nueva Chicago 1 (0)
2003–2004 Las Palmas 18 (1)
2004–2005 Gimnasia y Esgrima 18 (7)
2005–2006 Independiente 28 (19)
2006–2010 Anderlecht 69 (41)
Total 201 (80)
International career
2001 Argentina U20 4 (2)
Managerial career
2011–2013 Unión de Santa Fe II
2014–2015 Olimpia (assistant)
2016 Anderlecht (youth)
2016–2017 Anderlecht (assistant)
2017 Anderlecht (interim)
2019 San Luis de Quillota
2020–2021 Anderlecht (assistant)
2021–2022 D.C. United (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Early career

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Born in Santa Fe, Frutos started playing for Unión de Santa Fe and was later bought by San Lorenzo. Later, Spanish club Las Palmas signed him, but after an unsuccessful season of only one goal Argentina's Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata brought him back. He again found his level, catching Independiente's attention, whom he joined for the Apertura 2004, scoring 19 goals in 28 matches.

Frutos was as of 23 October 2005 the top scorer of the Apertura 2005 with nine goals in 11 matches, but he lost that position because he was not able to play for Independiente for the rest of the season.

Anderlecht

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Frutos obtained a transfer from Independiente on 21 October 2005 but was only allowed to play for Anderlecht starting in January 2006.

In his first season with R.S.C. Anderlecht, he scored nine goals in the second half of the season and won the 2005–06 Belgian First Division.

The 2006–07 season yielded more goals for Frutos, as he scored 17 goals in 27 appearances in both the Jupiler League and the UEFA Champions League. His goal-scoring was sorely missed in the early part of the 2007–08 season, until his return in the 2–2 draw against Roeselare, where he was a substitute and scored the goal that leveled the match. Frutos also scored two goals against Hapoel Tel Aviv FC in the UEFA Cup group stage.

At the start of the 2009–10 season, he scored a goal against Süper Lig side Sivasspor during the third-round qualifying match for the UEFA Champions League after coming on as a substitute.[4]

Retirement

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Frutos announced his retirement from professional football on 29 March 2010 at the age of 28 due to tendinopathy of the Achilles tendon, which prevents him from playing at a competitive level.[5]

Coaching career

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One day after his retirement, it was announced that Frutos would work as a scout for his last club, R.S.C. Anderlecht.[6] In 2011 he worked for Unión de Santa Fe as a coordinator for the youth teams and manager of their reserve team. He left his position in June 2013.[7]

In 2015, he was a part of the technical staff at Club Olimpia.[8] On 1 January 2016, Frutos returned to Anderlecht and took charge of the U19 team.[9] On 18 September 2017, he was appointed as caretaker manager for the first team.[10] He was in charge for four games, getting three victories and one defeat, before a new manager was appointed on 3 October 2017.

On 3 January 2019, he was appointed as manager of San Luis de Quillota.[11] After adding just four points out of 18 possible, he was fired on 2 April 2019.[12]

In February 2021, Frutos was appointed assistant coach of D.C. United.[13]

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ Nicolás Frutos at WorldFootball.net
  2. ^ Nicolás Frutos at Soccerway. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. ^ « C’est tragique pour Nicolas Frutos » Archived 2012-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Se cayó del fútbol". Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  5. ^ Hardnekkig blessureleed maakt einde aan carrière Nicolas Frutos (update) Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Frutos deviendra-t-il agent ? Archived 2010-04-01 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Unión repitió en Reserva y renunció Frutos, m.ellitoral.com, 4 June 2013
  8. ^ “Será el más grande de la Liga” - Diario Uno Santa Fe, unosantafe.com.ar, 4 January 2015
  9. ^ Profile at Footballdatabase, footballdatabase.eu
  10. ^ Frutos para el Anderlecht, ole.com.ar, 18 September 2017
  11. ^ NICOLÁS FRUTOS, NUEVO ESTRATEGA CANARIO: “ME INTERESÓ MUCHÍSIMO EL PROYECTO DEPORTIVO Y EL CRECIMIENTO INSTITUCIONAL”, sanluissa.cl, 3 January 2019
  12. ^ Nicolás Frutos dejó de ser el entrenador de San Luis, cdf.cl, 2 April 2019
  13. ^ "D.C. United Appoint Nicolás Frutos as Assistant Coach". D.C. United. 5 February 2021.
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