Many footballers go into coaching after retiring from playing, but not all of them become as successful in the second stage of their careers.
If becoming a successful player is difficult, then coaching at the highest level could be considered even more so. After all, while there are 11 places on a football team, there are just a handful of coaches and one manager leading them.
One of those on the journey to achieving the goal is Benni McCarthy, who this week joined Manchester United as a first-team coach who will focus on training the club’s strikers. McCarthy scored 37 goals in 120 Premier League appearances for West Ham and Blackburn Rovers and, aged 44, is now back in the league to impart his knowledge.
He has been joined at United by Tom Huddlestone, who has been appointed in a joint player-coach capacity with the club’s academy. The 35-year-old midfielder, who left Hull City at the end of last season, will play for the Under-21s while helping the next generation of players come through.
There are plenty of former Premier League players working as managers in the division, with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Mikel Arteta the most obvious. Meanwhile, excellent players of the last generation, like Ashley Cole and Kevin Nolan are on the coaching staff at Everton and West Ham respectively.
Here Mirror Football runs you through some you might not have known have moved into coaching.
Park Ji-sung
Park was one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s most valued players for seven years at Manchester United. After helping to win four Premier League titles, the Champions League and much more, Park moved to QPR in 2012 – and it is the west London side which have given him a route into coaching.
The 41-year-old was brought into the club by Chris Ramsey to help coach the club’s Under-16 players as part of his B Licence. “People might think being a coach is quite similar to being a player,” Park, who has also worked as an advisor for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, told the club website. “For me, I have realised it is totally different. It is not just about tactics, it is everything – leadership, communication, how you can influence every single player.”
Claude Makelele
Makelele’s impact at Chelsea was so big that he still has an entire role named after him. He spent five years marshalling the midfield at Stamford Bridge and, since August 2019, has been working with the club as a technical mentor, a role which sees him work closely with the young players in the academy and out on loan.
The 49-year-old Frenchman has worked closely with Trevoh Chalobah and Conor Gallagher, among others, in recent years.
Luis Boa Morte
Boa Morte made 296 Premier League appearances, contributing 29 goals and 35 assists for Arsenal, Southampton, Fulham and West Ham. Now 44, it is Fulham who have given him a pathway into coaching.
He has already experienced a lot in coaching, having worked in Fulham’s academy, with Sporting Lisbon’s B team, as manager of Portuguese third division side Sintrense, with Portimonense’s Under-23s and as an assistant coach at Maccabi Haifa. Boa Morte has been Marco Silva’s assistant since June 2019, working at Everton and now Fulham.
Kolo Toure
Toure was an ever-present in the Premier League from 2002 to 2016, with Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool. It was his Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers who has given him a route into coaching, taking him on as an assistant coach at Celtic and then taking him to Leicester City in February 2019.
He has big plans. “There aren’t many African managers in the top league in England or Europe,” he told the Independent in 2020. “I really want to represent Africa. I have a dream that one day an African team may win the World Cup. This is what I am working for. I want someone from my continent to win it. It is going to be difficult but it’s in my head. It’s my target.”
Dirk Kuyt
Kuyt was a favourite at Liverpool between 2006 and 2012. He made 285 appearances for the Reds, contributing 51 goals and 27 assists. He went into coaching at Feyenoord, for whom he played for in two stints, and made a first step into senior management this summer.
Kuyt is now the ADO Den Haag boss, having signed a one-year contract in June. He said: "The objective and ambition of the club appeals to me enormously and we will therefore, together with all the people at the club, ensure that we realise that ambition."
Gary O’Neil
Midfielder O’Neil played for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, West Ham and Norwich in the Premier League. He won promotion from the Championship on four occasions and was a reliable player in the middle of the pitch for a long time.
In August 2020, he joined Liverpool as assistant manager of the club's Under-23s to work under manager Barry Lewtas. In February 2021 he was brought to Bournemouth by his former Boro team-mate Jonathan Woodgate and remains a senior first team coach under Scott Parker.
Robin van Persie
Van Persie sits 13th on the list of all-time Premier League goal scorers, with 144 strikes in 280 appearances for Arsenal and Manchester United. He won the Golden Boot on two occasions and was prolific in front of goal.
The Flying Dutchman is now embarking on a coaching career at Feyenoord, where he is working with the club’s under-16s, having originally joined as an assistant-coach to Dick Advocaat.
John Arne Riise
The Norwegian defender with one of the best left foots the Premier League has ever seen. Riise played for Liverpool and Fulham in the top flight across a long and varied career which also took him to France, Italy, Cyprus, India and Norway.
The 41-year-old is now trying to make it as a manager. After a brief stint as sporting director in Malta with Birkirkara, he managed Norwegian Third Division club Flint Tonsberg. Since December 2021, Riise has been the boss of Norwegian top-flight women’s side Avaldsnes.
Jermain Defoe
Defoe is ninth on the list of Premier League goalscorers, with 162 strikes to his name for West Ham, Tottenham, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Bournemouth. The 39-year-old only retired earlier this year from playing and has now taken his first steps into management. He is going to join Spurs as an academy coach this month.
Yaya Toure
Toure is in the conversation as one of the best central midfielders the Premier League has ever seen. During his best years, Toure helped Manchester City win three Premier League titles, three League Cups and the FA Cup.
The younger Toure brother has already been the assistant manager at Ukrainian outfit Olimpik Donetsk and Russian club Akhmat Grozny. He joined Spurs in December on a part-time basis and is about to join Defoe in a full-time role.
