Following Luis de la Fuente's promotion to the senior team after Luis Enrique resigned, Denia was appointed as manager of the under-21s.

Denia, who earned two caps for Spain during his playing career, has spent the entirety of his managerial career working in the Spanish youth system managing every age group from u-16 to u-21, except for one game as caretaker manager of Atletico Madrid.

It was with Atletico Madrid where Denia spent the majority of his career, making almost 300 appearances in addition to time as the club's director of football and as assistant manager to Abel Resino back in 2009, winning La Liga as a player in 1996.

Denia spent the rest of his career with local club Albacete, coming through their youth system and retiring there, making over 100 appearances.

A centre-back during his playing career, Denia was the runner-up of the 1996 iteration of this competition as he looks to right that wrong, adding to the European Under-19 Championship he won as manager in 2019.