Sergio Navarro has laid out his priorities as the new head coach of Milan Futuro, speaking to the club's official channels about how he intends to prepare the club's young players for the step up.
Milan Futuro exists to close the gap between the Primavera and a first team that has rarely trusted its own academy graduates, and the second season of the project is where it either starts producing usable players or becomes an expensive holding pen. Navarro is the man tasked with turning promising teenagers into footballers a senior coach will actually pick.
The Spaniard came through Villarreal's academy into their first team as a player, and he framed his coaching path as a reaction to what he lacked on the way up. "I have also been a young player, I came up from the academy to the First Team of Villarreal, but I didn't have the privilege of learning from great mentors. That was the spark that inspired me to specialise in developing young talent," he said.
His CV covers most corners of youth work, from Head of Methodology to Head of Youth Sector to first-team assistant. On the priority, he was direct: "The Milan Futuro players are now my priority. I want to help them develop not only from a technical perspective, but also as people, so that in a few years' time they can be ready to meet the standards required of AC Milan's First Team."
Navarro also nodded to the club's history in explaining why he took the role, citing Arrigo Sacchi's side and the Baresi-Gullit-Rijkaard-Van Basten era as the Milan he grew up admiring.
The real test won't be in the words. Milan Futuro spent last season in Serie C and the whole point of the setup is to hand the first team ready-made options rather than force the club into the market for squad depth. Navarro's success gets measured in how many of his players Massimiliano Allegri ends up trusting, and that's a number we won't be able to read for a while yet.