2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Celta the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Osasuna will enjoy reviewing.
Kai Havertz 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jorge Herrando commits to Osasuna for another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Torró 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. Almería have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 shaken hands with Getafe; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Krasnodar for Raúl García 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 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Osasuna close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 5 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.
Athletic Bilbao paid $56.0M 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.
Villarreal paid $24.8M 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Aimar has gone, the accounts have $56.0M 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.
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 5.71 for the rest of 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl 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.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Torró is still being punished for one mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Atlético Madrid pay $27.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
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.
He is going to Atlético Madrid, the club has $27.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Espanyol for Romain Del Castillo 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.
Kai Havertz 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 asked and Córdoba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Real Madrid waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Osasuna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Kai Havertz 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.
43 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ante Budimir 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Add another name to the list: Atlético Madrid have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abel Bretones. The answer from Osasuna has not changed — yet.
Villarreal left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Osasuna has been clear about where Abel Bretones stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ante Budimir 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Beaten 6 times, 2 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Osasuna dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Sergio Herrera
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Kai Havertz 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kai Havertz. 4‑3 against Alavés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Osasuna and Alavés in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Kai Havertz 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alberto Méndez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Jaime Diez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Sergio Herrera is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Dec 2026
Kai Havertz wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Kai Havertz found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Levante went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir 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.
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Rubén García takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rubén García provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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.
Espanyol made Osasuna work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Rico 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. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Kai Havertz 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raúl García, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Bareiro 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Osasuna has been clear about where Mariano Bareiro stands, which is more than many ever get.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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.
Kai Havertz 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ante Budimir 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Osasuna told Kai Havertz something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
13 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.
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.
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Romain Del Castillo obliged against Levante. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Osasuna.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alejandro Rubio has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Diego Rico 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.
“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 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
A brace, and Kai Havertz takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kai Havertz provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Iker Muñoz, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Kai Havertz 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ante Budimir 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Girona were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Iker Muñoz has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Kai Havertz 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Osasuna can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Rico was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Oct 2026
21 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.
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.
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javier Delgado 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.
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.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ante Budimir 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 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jaime Diez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Diego Rico 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Raúl García has his answer from Osasuna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Kai Havertz 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jaime Diez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Osasuna are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ante Budimir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jorge Giménez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
19 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 0‑3 Jaime Diez left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Osasuna close the window on a squad of their own making
26 in and 1 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.
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.
“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.
Kai Havertz 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Issam El Maach 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. Tigre have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Osasuna will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Kai Havertz comes from Arsenal for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
Kai Havertz 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 Ante Budimir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Osasuna spend $69.6M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $69.6M for Kai Havertz, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
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.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Ricardo Díaz is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ante Budimir 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruz Azul have kept their man, and Osasuna go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 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.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Villarreal in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Mariano Miño is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Osasuna have no good answer.
The offer went to Arsenal 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.
Osasuna asked and Paris Saint-Germain 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 a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diego Enríquez is living that version at Osasuna, and it tends to show in the first month.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Diego Enríquez comes from Sporting Cristal for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Flavien-Enzo Boyomo and Osasuna agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
The offer went to Sporting Cristal 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.
“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.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir 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.