Gerard Nijkamp, currently the technical director at Eredivisie side PEC Zwolle, is a candidate to be the GM of FC Cincinnati, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC.
Dutch outlet VI was the first to report Nijkamp's candidacy.
FC Cincinnati has stated that team president Jeff Berding, currently acting as the team's GM, would step aside and focus on the business side of the organization, and hire a full time GM. Reached by telephone, Berding would only say that Nijkamp is "someone we've spoken to as we've evaluated the sporting side build out."
But multiple sources told ESPN FC that Nijkamp is under consideration for the post, with one source stating that the process is "pretty far along."
Nijkamp, 46, spent his playing career in Holland's amateur ranks, but has had a long career in Dutch football in both coaching and technical director roles. Starting in 1999, he held a variety of positions with FC Zwolle -- the predecessor club to PEC Zwolle -- working at both youth level as well as an assistant coach at the club. He even managed Zwolle on a caretaker basis in 2003. He also served as the assistant coach for the Netherlands U21 team from July 2006 to June 2007.
In 2007 Nijkamp left the Netherlands to take up a technical director role in Qatar, first with Al-Ahli and subsequently Al-Rayyan. Nijkamp later became affiliated with a program run by the KNVB -- the Dutch Football Federation -- that trains coaches in developing countries.
Nijkamp assumed the technical director role at Zwolle starting in 2012. During his tenure, Zwolle won the 2014 KNVB Cup, the first major trophy in the club's history, defeating Ajax in the final, 5-1. In the just concluded league season, Zwolle finished in 13th place out of 18 teams.