Osasuna coach Jagoba Arrasate has decided not to renew with the club starting in June.
Arrasate has led Osasuna since he was confirmed as their coach in June 2018. The Biscayan coach took the Navarrese team from the second division to the final of the Copa del Rey.
He said it in a press conference that he gave together with Luis Sabalza, president, and Braulio Vázquez, sports director.
With glassy eyes, Arrasate spoke about the decision not to renew: “it is complicated, but I am calm.”
“If I am not completely convinced, if I am not happy, it is difficult for me to get the best out of myself and the team,” he announced during the press conference.
Arrasate admitted that “they are complicated hours, many emotions.”
The coach was overwhelmed by all the expressions of affection for the legacy he leaves on the team, a team that he says has made him “happy and a better person.”
Vázquez has tried to convince the coach to stay, but the coach has rejected him.
The president also regretted his departure: “It is not easy to replace Jagoba.
He has connected not only with the stands, but with many more people.
Now we see the need to bring in a substitute.”
This decision truncates the plans of the red team's board, which was counting on him for the following season.
“There was no plan B, the only plan was for him to renew.”
Arrasate denied that this announcement could affect the squad, which is currently 12th with 36 points.
“We have a unique dressing room, we are going to try to be as high as possible,” he indicated.
In his first season at the head of the rojillos, he achieved the long-awaited promotion to the first division at the top of the table.
Arrasate had 26 wins, nine draws and seven losses in a season in which El Sadar became an impregnable fortress, with 15 wins and two draws.
From the beginning he insisted that the team had to be brave, just as the Navarrese stands had been demanding: “This year people have seen the style they like: go to the opponent's field to push, be brave, not back down at any time. .
That is why there has been a communion with the stands that has been fundamental.”
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Sabalza declared after the promotion that the objective was to “consolidate Osasuna in the First Division and turn it into an important and strong club.”
The years to come have proven him right: in his second season, Arrasate left his team in a very comfortable 10th position, just four points behind Europe.
Since then, not only have they not suffered the nerves of a possible relegation, but they have settled into first place and were runners-up in the Cup in 2023.
But the key moment in his career was the 2023 Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.
The red club lost a game that they played very decently, with a 2-1 loss.
“At 1-1, the team had a lot of energy, it was very solid,” lamented the coach, who saw his team's chances of winning the first title in their history disappear with Rodrygo's second goal in the minute 70. They had reached the final after playing four overtimes in a row and beating Athletic in the semifinal.
It was the second final in its history after 2005 against Betis.
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