Fran Navarro continues unstoppable. The forward trained in the Valencia academy has already scored 15 goals this season with the Gil Vicente shirt, which is fifth in the Portuguese First Division and dreams of entering Europe for the first time in its history. The ‘roosters’ have only conceded two defeats in 2022 and much of the credit falls on Navarro, who emigrated to Portugal without making his debut with the Valencia first team. “I think I deserved the opportunity, but I was unlucky. Marcelino was going to summon me for a Cup match, but he was sanctioned. My life would have changed completely”, he acknowledged in an interview in Migrantes del Balón. The ‘Toro’, as he has been known since his time in the Valencia subsidiary, did not find a place in Mestalla, but his great performances in Second Division B they served to make the leap to the elite of European football and in Portugal he is making history: no other player scored so many goals with Gil Vicente in a single season in the First Division.
After scoring against Paços de Ferreira, Fran Navarro also equaled Mario González as the top Spanish scorer in a single season of the Portuguese Primeira Liga. “This competition is a showcase for the players who have not been given an opportunity in Spain. If you know how to take advantage of it, you can change your life completely“, discovered a forward who awaits a summer full of offers. Fran Navarro is the third top scorer in the Portuguese First Division after Darwin Núñez, Benfica’s ‘9’ (25), and Mehdi Taremi, Porto’s striker (18) His season is so remarkable that his value has increased by 1,000% -from 300,000 to 3,000,000 according to Transfermarkt-, something to which Valencia, which he saved between 40 and 50% of a future transfer, he is very attentive.
Fran Navarro has scored two consecutive games despite the fact that Ricardo Soares, coach of Gil Vicente, gave the Brazilian Elder Santana the starting position in the matches against Famalicao and Paços de Ferreira. The Spaniard scored coming off the bench and there are 13 points that the team has won thanks to its offensive production. The ‘roosters’ only have Porto, Sporting CP, Benfica and Braga ahead in the table and have a five-point margin with respect to sixth place, so they see their classification for the preliminary phase of the Conference getting closer and closer League. “The fans have turned to us, but we are calm because reaching Europe was not the main objective of the club. The main objective is salvation and, from there, whatever comes is welcome.“, revealed Fran Navarro, the Valencian ‘Bull’ with whom no defender wants to deal.