Mikel Llorente Etxarri (born 15 December 1981) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder.
Born in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Llorente was a Real Sociedad youth graduate. He featured with the reserves in the 2001–02 season in Segunda División B,[1] but left the club in December and subsequently represented Tercera División side Universidad del País Vasco-Vasconia.[2]
Llorente subsequently returned to his hometown, playing for Hondarribia FE in the regional leagues.[2]
While still a player, Llorente managed the youth sides of Hondarribia,[2][3] before being appointed in charge of the first team on 6 April 2012.[4] On 22 June 2017, he moved abroad and joined Guille Abascal's staff at Swiss side FC Chiasso, as his assistant.[5]
On 20 June 2018, Llorente returned to Real Sociedad, after becoming an assistant of the Juvenil A squad.[6] He was named in charge of the Easo (Juvenil B) squad in 2020,[7] before returning to the Juvenil A in July 2021, now as manager.[8]
On 31 May 2022, Llorente was named at the helm of the C-team in Segunda Federación, replacing Sergio Francisco who had been appointed in charge of the B's.[9] On 2 June 2024, he departed the Txuri-urdin,[10] and was appointed manager of Primera Federación side Real Unión nineteen days later.[11]
On 3 December 2024, following a string of poor results and with the club in the relegation zone, Real Unión announced that they had sacked Llorente.[12][13]
Llorente's older brother Joseba was also a footballer.[14] A forward, he too played for Real Sociedad.
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