AC Milan have announced that they have appointed Sergio Navarro Barquero as head coach of Milan Futuro. Jovan Kirovski, the Rossoneri's Sport Development Director, commented on the appointment:
"We believe Sergio is the ideal choice, combining the profile of a coach who already has experience in professional football and who – above all – has focused on developing young players in a European environment of excellence. We consider these to be the ideal qualities to build our project together, whose primary objective is the development of young talent."
Sergio Navarro's career: from Castellón to Athletic Bilbao
Born in Andalusia, Navarro began his coaching career in the youth academy of Castellón in 2006. After five years, he moved to Russia, where he became Head of Methodology at Rubin Kazan. It was a key role in the development and progression of the club's young players, as relayed via Milan News.
After two years, Navarro returned to Spain to join Villarreal, where he spent four years in the same role he had held in Russia. In 2017, he took on his first senior managerial position with Karpaty Lviv in Ukraine. His spell there lasted only one year, after which he returned to Spain once again, this time joining Levante, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the first team.
In 2022 came the most significant appointment of his career in terms of the club's stature and prestige: Head of the Youth Academy at Athletic Bilbao. After three years, his desire to return to frontline coaching led him to Hungary, where he became head coach of Debrecen's first team. Following the end of that one-year spell, Navarro is now ready to take charge of AC Milan's young Rossoneri talents.
