Osasuna interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Aimar Esteban keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aimar Esteban after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
Looking aheadOsasuna take on the side everybody is chasing
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Kranevitter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torró was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.67, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Alexis Vega was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.54. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The target is the manager, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
Mallorca left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Aimar Esteban left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Osasuna close the window on a squad of their own making
35 in and 33 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rubén García and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alessio Brambilla has agreed terms with Zaragoza for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torró was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Osasuna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tomás Rossi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Abel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Julen Sánchez clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Aimar Esteban recited it perfectly.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The offer from Deportivo La Coruña for Leandro Brey was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Abel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Boardroom5 academy players handed senior numbers at Osasuna
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iker Recio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Osasuna have gone to Ceuta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luken Beitia has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Osasuna asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Iker Recio has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rubén García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Osasuna can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valladolid waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
409 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Kranevitter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Matías Kranevitter has agreed terms with Celta for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Torró was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nacional waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valladolid waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Osasuna asked and Elche said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Dubasin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Nacional have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matías Sosa. The answer from Osasuna has not changed — yet.
In brief
SquadDani Lorenzo has improved at 26, which nobody expected
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Osasuna can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Osasuna have gone to Zaragoza with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Pablo Pérez has agreed terms with Mirandés for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Lucas Torró falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rubén García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Maidana wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
Boardroom97% of the income goes out in wages at Osasuna
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Barcelona paid $30.3M and Osasuna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Osasuna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Raúl Moro has gone, the accounts have $30.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Osasuna asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Julen Sánchez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
566 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Ander Astralaga has come up in conversations Osasuna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Iker Muñoz has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Eneko Astigarraga has just signed for Osasuna, and for once the answer mattered.
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Dubasin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Osasuna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osasuna told Dani Lorenzo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 54 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Osasuna have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolás Herrera has just signed for Osasuna, and for once the answer mattered.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Víctor García has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Osasuna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A 1‑0 win over Barcelona, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Iker Recio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alejandro Catena.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Alexis Vega was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Tom Cannon
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rubén García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Osasuna know it.
Nobody at Osasuna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Bretones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Osasuna had all but put away. Espanyol will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Racing Santander made Osasuna work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Iker Recio falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe game went through Alexis Vega — 7.93
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
2‑2 against Zbrojovka Brno, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.54 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Sosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emran Soglo has just signed for Osasuna, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sami Al-Naji has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Julen Sánchez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
1‑0 against Zbrojovka Brno, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Raúl Moro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Dubasin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Diego Llorente has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Osasuna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Feb 2029
9 new faces, and Osasuna are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at Osasuna
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Osasuna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Osasuna and Andorra have settled on $230.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at Osasuna until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Osasuna have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Brey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Osasuna have gone to Andorra with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rubén García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hugo Colella is living that version at Osasuna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Villarreal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Elche; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Monterrey for Alexis Vega was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Olympique Lyonnais waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Franco Capponi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Rayo Vallecano were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$430.0K was the most the club would pay and Athletic Bilbao were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
In brief
SquadWords at Osasuna training over how hard people work
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Osasuna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 13, 22 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Nobody at Osasuna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
0‑0 against PSV, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Rico will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osasuna has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Osasuna know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexis Vega is on it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
4‑1 against Tirana, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Rubén García falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Sosa wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Dubasin provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Osasuna have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
0‑0 against Fenerbahce, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Matías Sosa obliged against Las Palmas. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Osasuna.
Racing Santander will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Osasuna were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadAbel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sergio Herrera
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Osasuna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Osasuna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
In brief
SquadWords at Osasuna training over how hard people work
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑0 against PSV, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Osasuna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Osasuna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Osasuna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julen Sánchez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Sergio Herrera
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Abel Bretones was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Raúl Moro. 2‑0 against Celta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsJonathan Dubasin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Osasuna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jordi Quintillà has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Osasuna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Sint-Truiden for Iván Sandoval was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Osasuna until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Osasuna heard it as anything else.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Osasuna will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Lucas Menossi is a Osasuna player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Castellón wanted more than $72.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Nico Ratti has improved at 34, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valladolid have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
$5.5M was the most the club would pay and Andorra were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Osasuna moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Julen Sánchez, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alfie Massey is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Abel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadIker Recio has improved at 27, which nobody expected
The offer went to Andorra this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Osasuna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sami Al-Naji was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Osasuna, another week without a signature from Diego Rico.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Osasuna asked and Granada said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Luzern for Iván Sandoval was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Chaves will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
BoardroomThe Osasuna board find $58.2M for the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Iván Sandoval has come up in conversations Osasuna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Osasuna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Osasuna asked and Valladolid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Sandoval is on it.
In brief
The dugoutIker Muñoz asks for a word with the manager
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Manuel Lazzari is living that version at Osasuna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Osasuna asked and Eibar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Abel Bretones has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Osasuna offered $98.0K; Girona said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Osasuna asked and Espanyol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Chaves will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abel Bretones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
In brief
The dugoutAnte Budimir knocks on the manager’s door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Osasuna will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Elche wanted more than $720.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alavés have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Sandoval is on it.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Tom Cannon is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tom Cannon has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Osasuna offered $1.8M; Oviedo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Almería is saying, and nobody at Osasuna is enjoying the guessing.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Osasuna have gone to Sheffield United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Osasuna asked and Andorra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Brian Ocampo has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Villarreal for Valentin Rosier was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Osasuna heard it as anything else.
The name of Iván Sandoval has come up in conversations Osasuna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Osasuna will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Chaves will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Osasuna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayden Morris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pablo Vázquez has his answer from Osasuna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kike Barja is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Osasuna. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osasuna told Jeremías James something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Osasuna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Osasuna would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Vega and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The terracesOsasuna supporters have found a favourite in Marc Moya
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Almería had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Osasuna did not stop to explain themselves.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lucas Torró has his answer from Osasuna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osasuna had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayden Morris is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Player ratingsAlexis Vega beats them one at a time
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Ugochukwu Iwu
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flavien-Enzo Boyomo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Going 3 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Osasuna rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Levante had no answer to any of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Osasuna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Julen Sánchez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Abel Bretones falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Osasuna know it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fran Vélez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ante Budimir will call it something else in private.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julen Sánchez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Osasuna heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Julen Sánchez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 7.66 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Squad10 new faces, and Osasuna are still learning each other
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Osasuna can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fran Vélez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Osasuna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Franco Capponi has just signed for Osasuna, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nico Ratti has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Osasuna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Osasuna asked and Castellón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Osasuna until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Osasuna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Kaj de Rooij has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Osasuna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
$13.4M was the most the club would pay and Castellón were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Osasuna asked and Castellón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Rubén García falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Enol Rodríguez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Osasuna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Kaio Jorge scored in the 86th minute, Racing Santander had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Osasuna took the lot.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$720.0K was the most the club would pay and Elche were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The offer from Club America for Alexis Vega was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Valentin Rosier has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The phone has started ringing about Valentin Rosier again, and this time the name on the line is Zaragoza. Osasuna are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Dubasin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Osasuna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Osasuna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Osasuna asked and Brentford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andorra have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from Zaragoza for Valentin Rosier was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Add another name to the list: Colo-Colo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jonathan Dubasin. The answer from Osasuna has not changed — yet.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kaio Jorge wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Dubasin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Dubasin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Osasuna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The goal that put Almería ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Osasuna equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Aguilar is living that version at Osasuna, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Osasuna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Elche spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bruno Ramos has, at Osasuna, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Dubasin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Dubasin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Aimar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Julen Sánchez kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Alexis Vega and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Osasuna.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Ingolotti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 1‑1 draw with Mallorca leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Ante Budimir
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Julen Sánchez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Alexis Vega was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Dubasin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.