Sometimes the storylines in Serie A write themselves, and that could well be the case in round one of 2026-27.
Ignazio Abate will be the new Torino head coach. Sky and other sources confirmed on Monday that the Granata president Urbano Cairo has resolved his doubts and chosen the former Torino player to take over.
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Abate won the battle with other names that were in the running such as Alberto Gilardino and Ivan Juric, the former an ex-Milan player and the latter being someone who was coach of Torino for multiple years already.
Immediate reunion
It will be a very special debut as a Serie A coach for the Abate, who will face the Rossoneri in the first round of the season at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino. He gets the job after impressing in his time with Ternana and then Juve Stabia in Serie B.
In an interview back in November, Abate admitted that he still feels a strong connection to Milan, the club that he owes a lot to in terms of his playing career and also the beginning of his journey as a coach.
As a reminder, Abate’s Milan Primavera sides reached the semi-final and then final of the UEFA Youth League in consecutive seasons, becoming the flagship Italian youth team in Italy. He left in May 2024 to pursue opportunities coaching professional football.
Abate is smart. He will success in torino. Trust me
Cannot say I’m not excited to see what he’s actually capable. Will follow him for sure.
One of the biggest mistakes RedBird made was not at the very least giving Abate another year with the Primavera. Then he could have been promoted to first team coach. We need a strong SD with foresight.
Even dummer decision, he wanted Futuro and they refused… He went in another team in Serie C and kicked ass while our team relegated..
Exactly. The club wants to do this whole “homegrown pipeline” a la Redbull, and what do they do? Dismiss a talented young coach (who was a former player and came up through the youth system no less) in favor of Ibra friend Jovan Kirovski and promptly get Futuro relegated to purgatory. Meanwhile Abate keeps rising. He might have been taking over our first team right now instead of Torino. Thanks Redbird, for having no vision or cojones.
funniest thing about that, kirovski even got pay rise & increase power in youth sector after that relegation
He didnt leave, he was kicked out by brain dead ibra for not playing his pitiful son enough. He then went and got a serie C team immediately promoted while our team got relegated. And this year he nearly got Juves B team PROMOTED FROM SERIE B! He was the perfect person to continue with the Futuro but our worthless owner and his cronies forced him out, and now hes made them look just as stupid as they are. I wish him all the best and look forward to seeing how he does in the top flight. He worked his way up thru the ranks in Italy and earned it
Wish Abate the best, hope he have success with Torino. I feel like Torino, Genoa and Fiorentina have a squad better than they have performed and I think the league overall will be tougher for us next season