Championship side Derby County have appointed former Netherlands international Phillip Cocu as their successor to Frank Lampard. Lampard is set to/has joined Chelsea after just one season with the Rams. Cocu has signed a four-year deal at Pride Park.
He will be joined at the club by his long-term assistants Twan Scheepers and Chris van der Weerden. The pair have been with Cocu through most of the managerial ventures in his career.
Phillip Cocu Appointed as Frank Lampard Successor at Derby County
Playing Career
Cocu spent a large chunk of his career in the Netherlands, where he is from. His senior debut came at AZ Alkmaar and he also starred for Vitesse Arnhem and PSV Eindhoven before sealing a transfer to Barcelona.
Despite his time in Holland, it was with the Spanish side where he made the most appearances. He played 205 times for Barcelona, scoring 31 times from midfield (as many as he managed in 95 games in his first spell at PSV).
He returned to former club PSV after leaving Spain, making a further 94 appearances before seeing out his career with Al Jazira in the United Arab Emirates.
Managerial Career
Cocu’s first taste of a managerial role came when he was the assistant for the Netherlands national side between 2008 and 2012. He then took a caretaker role at PSV before assuming the role permanently in 2013.
He lasted five years in the PSV hot seat before moving on to Turkish outfit Fenerbahce. However, with a win percentage of just 25%, he soon found himself out of work again.
All of Cocu’s accolades as a manager came while with PSV. They won the Eredivisie, Holland’s top flight, three times – in 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2017/18. In addition, he won the KNVB Cup in 2011/12 and the Johan Cruyff Shield on two occasions – in 2015 and 2016.
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