D.C. United announced today that Nicolás Frutos will join the club as an assistant coach pending his P-1 Work Visa. The 39-year-old Argentine will join Head Coach Hernán Losada’s technical staff from R.S.C. Anderlecht SC, where he has served as an Assistant Coach since 2019.
“I have known Nicolás for years and cannot speak highly enough of his character. We first played together in 2004 for Independiente in Argentina then followed similar career paths throughout Europe, including playing for Anderlecht,” Hernán Losada, D.C. United Head Coach, said. “As a player, he was an intelligent forward and he has worked hard since retirement to become a great tactician and coach. His creative attacking mind paired with his experience developing youth players and integrating them into the first team will be a valuable addition to our impressive coaching staff at D.C. United.”
Frutos joins D.C. United from Anderlecht in the Belgian top tier of soccer. After playing forward for the Belgian powerhouse from 2005 to 2010 where he scored 41 goals in 69 appearances and won five trophies, the Argentine joined the Anderlecht technical staff as a scout following his retirement on March 29, 2010.
Frutos departed Anderlecht and joined Unión de Santa Fe in Argentina in 2011 where he was the manager for the reserve team in addition to working closely with the youth team. Following his departure from Unión de Santa Fe in 2013, Frutos joined Club Olimpia in his first head coach role in 2015 and was with the team for four months.
Frutos then rejoined Anderlecht on Jan. 1, 2016 to become the head coach for the U-19 team. Following the departure of former head coach, René Weiler, on Sept. 18, 2017, Frutos became interim head coach for Anderlecht. In four games in charge of the first team, Frutos led them to a 3-1-0 record before Hein Vanhaezebrouck was named as the new head coach in October 2017.
On Jan. 3, 2019, Frutos was appointed as head coach for San Luis de Quillota in the Chilean first division. After four months with the club, Frutos rejoined Anderlecht again as an assistant coach under former Belgium and Manchester City center back Vincent Kompany.
