CA Osasuna Cantera explained

Clubname:CA Osasuna (youth system)
Fullname:Club Atlético Osasuna B
Capacity:4,000
Chairman:Luis Sabalza
Manager:David García
Mgrtitle:Head coach
Chrtitle:President
League:División de Honor
Season:2018-19
Position:División de Honor, Gr. 2, 9th
Website:http://www.osasuna.es/futbol-base.html
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The cantera (quarry) of Spanish professional football club CA Osasuna is the organisation's youth academy, developing players from childhood through to the integration of the best prospects into the adult teams.

The final category within the youth structure is the Juvenil A (Basque: Gazteak A) under-18/19 team which represents the club in national competition. The successful graduates then usually move to the club's affiliated team for younger players, CD Subiza (previously CD Iruña), or to the reserve team, Osasuna B which are also considered part of the cantera due to being stages in progression towards the senior team, albeit competing in the adult league system.

The academy is based at the club training complex, Tajonar, which is often the metonym used to refer to the system itself.[1]

Background

The top football clubs in the Spanish leagues generally place great importance in developing their cantera to promote the players from within or sell to other clubs as a source of revenue, and Osasuna is no exception. Their youth recruitment network is focused primarily around their home region of Navarre and there are collaboration agreements in place with the small clubs in the region.

Navarre has a population of just 640,000, a small catchment zone for an elite football club, and additionally Osasuna faces a battle for some of the region's talented young players due to the presence of Athletic Bilbao, whose Basque-only player recruitment policy includes Navarre in its definition.[2] In the 1990s and 2000s, several prominent players made the journey directly from Pamplona to Bilbao, including Ziganda, Larrainzar, Lacruz, Tiko, Orbaiz, Javi Martínez, David López and Muñoz,[3] while others such as Goikoetxea, José Mari and Ezquerro moved from Osasuna to Athletic via other clubs. The Biscay organisation have an affiliate team (UDC Txantrea) in Pamplona,[4] [5] [6] and several promising players who might otherwise have been likely to join Osasuna, the closest major club to their home towns (such as Iraizoz, Gurpegui, Llorente, San José and Muniain) were recruited by Athletic instead. This situation of increasingly aggressive recruitment fostered a tense relationship between the two clubs, arguably more so than any on-field battles.[7] [8] [6]

After a spell in the late 2000s during which Osasuna had few new academy graduates joining their main squad while Athletic reached a European final with a team full of Navarros,[9] [10] the trend reversed: Osasuna's relegation from La Liga in 2014 provided an opportunity for several academy players to integrate into the side in the less intense atmosphere of the second tier, and they played a role in the club's return to the top level in 2016. Meanwhile, Athletic recruited hardly any further youth players from Navarre in the same period, although the likes of Williams and Remiro were already at the Bilbao club.[6] In the late 2010s, Villarreal also began to make repeated 'raids' on Osasuna, enticing several young teenagers to join their setup, as did Barcelona.[1]

According to a 2016 report, Osasuna had a total of 11 homegrown players (as per UEFA guidelines, three years of training between 15 and 21 years old) still at their formative club, with another five at other top clubs across Europe.[11] As a club from a small city with limited resources, the youth department's ability to train such coveted players (as well as provide others to the senior squad) is a vital source of income. The departures of four of the former youth players, all of whom became Spanish internationalsRaúl García,[12] Monreal,[13] Javi Martínez[14] and Azpilicueta[15] – earned Osasuna €31 million in transfer fees; the fifth and last of those departures, under-21 midfielder Mikel Merino, brought in a further €4 million.

In the summer of 2017, Álex Berenguer became the latest canterano to move abroad for a considerable fee (€5.5 million),[16] [17] an important financial boost in the wake of another relegation. Athletic Bilbao had been interested in Berenguer, but no deal was agreed due in part to the rivalry between the clubs.[18] At the same time, Athletic secured the signature of 18-year-old Jesús Areso from Osasuna's youth team, paying his modest contractual release clause amount, making it impossible for the Pamplona club to reject the approach; this led to Osasuna temporarily breaking relations with their Bilbao neighbours in annoyance due to the impolite manner in which their board felt the business was conducted.[19] [6] Athletic eventually signed Berenguer three years later, triggering an additional €1.5 million payment from Torino to Osasuna, set up to hinder their advances of the Areso dispute at the height. A further small fee was also received in relation to milestones achieved by Oihan Sancet who moved to Bilbao in 2015 as a juvenile under freedom of contract.[20] In a rare move in the opposite direction, Areso was welcomed back to Osasuna in the summer of 2021, still looked upon as a good prospect but never used by Athletic's first team and also frozen out in the reserve squad after he and the club failed to agree contractual terms.[21] [22]

Another analysis in 2016 concluded that the Navarre region was the most successful in Spain for producing top-level footballers per head of population (25 players, equating to 39 per million residents) thanks to the efforts of both Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao in recruiting and developing local talent.[23]

National Competitions

The Juvenil A team play in Group II of the División de Honor Juvenil as their regular annual competition. Their main rivals in the league group are Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad. The under-17 team, Juvenil B, plays in the Liga Nacional Juvenil which is the lower division of the same structure.

The team also occasionally participates in the Copa de Campeones and the Copa del Rey Juvenil, qualification for which is dependent on final league group position. In these nationwide competitions the opposition includes the academy teams of Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Real Madrid.

International Tournaments

It is possible for Osasuna Juvenil to participate in the UEFA Youth League, either by winning the previous season's Copa de Campeones or by way of the senior team qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stages, but so far neither has been achieved.

Structure

The core of boys from the Navarre region are first introduced into the Tajonar Futbol 8 teams at around 10 years of age and advance by an age group every season through Infantil, Cadete and Juvenil levels. In the past, players retained after their Juvenil A spell (aged about 17) would typically move to reserve team CA Osasuna B (Promesas) to gain experience in an adult league (Segunda División B level in most years). However, Promesas is an under-23 team and it can be difficult for the youngest players to make an impact. Some other leading clubs in Spain have a further reserve team or an affiliated club in the lower Tercera División level to bridge this gap (see Villarreal CF C/Real Sociedad C/CD Basconia/Sevilla FC C), and in 2016 Osasuna made an agreement with local CD Iruña to fulfil the role.[24] The aim was for some of the youth academy graduates to spend one or two seasons at Iruña before the best progressed to Osasuna Promesas, and thereafter on to the senior team when ready to do so. In practice, the relegation of Promesas in 2017–18 forced Iruña (whose team had included Jon Moncayola that season)[25] to drop into the Navarre regional leagues,[26] below the level considered beneficial for the development of the youth graduates. In 2020, a new agreement was reached with CD Subiza for this purpose.[27]

Head coaches

The coaches are often former Osasuna players who themselves graduated from Tajonar.

SquadAgeCoachTierLeague
Juvenil A16-18David García1División de Honor (Gr. II)
Juvenil B16-17Iñaki Muñoz2Liga Nacional (Gr. XVI)
Cadete A15-16Jonathan Unanua 1Liga Cadete Navarra
Cadete B14-152Primera Cadete

Current squad (Juvenil A)

[28]

Season to season (Juvenil A)

Superliga / Liga de Honor sub-19

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold[29]

:Season: :

Level Group Position Notes
1 6th Quarter-final
1 7th Round of 16
1 bgcolor=silver2nd Semi-final
1 7th Quarter-final
1990–91 1 12th Semi-final
1991–92 1 6th Round of 16
1992–93 1 5th Semi-final
1993–94 1 16th N/A Relegated
1994–95 2 2 1st N/A No promotion due to restructuring

División de Honor Juvenil

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold

  • Season*
Level Group Position Europe/notes
1995–96 1 2 3rd Round of 16 N/A ---
1996–97 1 2 3rd Quarter-final N/A ---
1997–98 1 2 6th N/A N/A ---
1998–99 1 2 5th N/A N/A ---
1999–00 1 2 4th N/A ---
2000–01 1 2 bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=goldWinners ---
2001–02 1 2 4th N/A ---
2002–03 1 2 bgcolor=silver2nd N/A ---
2003–04 1 2 3rd bgcolor=silverN/A ---
2004–05 1 2 bgcolor=gold1st 2nd in group of 3 ---
2005–06 1 2 4th N/A ---
1 2 6th N/A ---
2007–08 1 2 bgcolor=silver2nd N/A ---
2008–09 1 2 5th N/A ---
1 2 3rd N/A ---
1 2 3rd N/A ---
1 2 4th N/A N/A
1 2 bgcolor=silver2nd N/A N/A
1 II 5th N/A N/A
1 II 3rd N/A N/A
1 II 4th N/A N/A
1 II bgcolor=gold1st N/A
1 II 10th N/A
1 II 9th N/A
1 II 3rd N/A N/A N/A
1 II-A/C bgcolor=silver1st/2nd N/A N/A
1 II bgcolor=silver2nd N/A
1 II 4th N/A
1 II bgcolor=silver2nd N/A

Famous players

Notable graduates who passed through the youth system on their way to establishing themselves with the Osasuna senior side and/or other clubs include:players currently at Osasuna in bold, 'graduation' year in parentheses

Honours

National competitions

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tajonar, la cantera de España. Tajonar, the quarry of Spain . Spanish . Diario AS . 13 May 2020. 11 October 2021.
  2. Web site: Tajonar y el eterno peligro. Tajonar and the eternal danger. Spanish. . 6 February 2018 . 11 November 2018.
  3. News: Areso, último capítulo del trasvase Osasuna-Athletic. Areso, latest chapter of the Osasuna-Athletic transfers. Spanish. Marca. 7 July 2017. 2 February 2018.
  4. News: El fértil vivero navarro del Athletic . Athletic's fertile Navarrese nursery . Spanish . . 8 February 2010. 20 October 2018.
  5. News: El Txantrea renueva como club convenido del Athletic hasta 2021 . Txantrea renews as Athletic collaboration club until 2021 . Spanish . . 13 April 2017 . 16 July 2017.
  6. Web site: Lezama y Navarra y viceversa . Lezama and Navarre and vice versa . Spanish . Futbol 948 . 24 November 2017 . 12 August 2018 . 2 February 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190202091515/http://www.futbol948.com/lezama-y-navarra-y-viceversa/ . dead .
  7. Web site: El Osasuna y el Athletic dirimen un duelo de rivalidad regional lleno de alicientes. Osasuna and Athletic set a duel of regional rivalry full of incentives. Diario de León. Spanish. 26 October 2005. 30 August 2017.
  8. Web site: Rivalidad, una motivación. Rivalry, a motivation. Noticias de Navarra. Spanish. 1 April 2017. 30 August 2017. 31 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170831043749/http://www.noticiasdenavarra.com/2017/04/01/osasuna/rivalidad-una-motivacion. dead.
  9. Web site: La navarra, una cantera expoliada . Navarre, an emptied quarry . Spanish . . 10 February 2011 . 19 July 2017 .
  10. News: La Chantrea, el mejor vivero, es del Athletic . Chantrea, Athletic's best nursery . Spanish . El Diario Vasco. 10 February 2011 . 16 July 2017.
  11. Web site: Revealed! Which clubs produce the most of Europe's top players?. . 1 November 2016. 7 November 2016.
  12. Web site: Aguirre gets thumbs up from Atlético. UEFA.com. 19 July 2007. 19 July 2017.
  13. Web site: Monreal jugará en el Málaga las próximas cinco temporadas . Monreal will play with Málaga in next four seasons . . Spanish . 10 June 2011. 19 July 2017.
  14. News: Athletic spend big on starlet . . 2 July 2006 . 19 July 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100403223700/http://msnsport.skysports.com/story/0%2C19528%2C11840_2382346%2C00.html . 3 April 2010 .
  15. News: Azpi pour 9.5 million euros?. Azpi for 9.5 million euros?. Mercato 365. French. 28 June 2010. 19 July 2017. 9 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120309150444/http://www.mercato365.com/infos-clubs/marseille/om-azpi-pour-9-5-millions-d-euros-109997.shtml. dead.
  16. Web site: El Club Atlético Osasuna alcanza un acuerdo con el Torino Football Club para el traspaso de Álex Berenguer . Club Atlético Osasuna reach an agreement with Torino Football Club for the transfer of Álex Berenguer . Spanish . CA Osasuna . Official Website . 17 July 2017 . 19 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170801235306/https://www.osasuna.es/noticia/_/10647/17-07-2017-el-club-atletico-osasuna-alcanza-un-acuerdo-con-el-torino-football-club-para-el-traspaso-de-%C3%81lex-berenguer.html . 1 August 2017 . dead .
  17. News: Osasuna estrena con Álex Berenguer las cláusulas anti Athletic. Osasuna launches the anti Athletic clauses with Álex Berenguer. Sport. es. 18 July 2017. 25 February 2021.
  18. News: El polivalente futbolista navarro que quería jugar en el Athletic. The versatile Navarrese footballer who wanted to play for Athletic. Robert Basic . El Correo. es. 9 July 2017. 25 February 2021.
  19. News: Osasuna cut ties with Athletic Club in aftermath of Areso transfer. Marca. 7 July 2017. 2 February 2018.
  20. News: Osasuna recibe un pellizco del Athletic por Sancet. Osasuna receives a pinch from Athletic for Sancet. Diario de Navarra . es. 30 December 2020. 25 February 2021.
  21. News: Areso, una operación sin precedentes. Areso, an unprecedented operation. Diario de Navarra . es. 29 April 2021 . 27 May 2021.
  22. News: Jesús Areso confirma que abandona el Athletic. Jesús Areso confirms that he is leaving Athletic. Noticias de Navarra . es. 26 May 2021. 27 May 2021.
  23. Web site: Navarra, cantera de futbolistas. Navarre, quarry of footballers . Spanish . Noticias de Navarra . 19 October 2016 . 7 November 2016.
  24. Web site: El Iruña será filial de Osasuna en tercera las cinco próximas temporadas. Iruña will be the affiliate of Osasuna in Tercera for the next 5 seasons. Navarra.com. 29 June 2016. es. 11 October 2021.
  25. Web site: Moncayola, del barro a la élite en dos años. Diario de Navarra . 11 October 2021. 16 March 2021. Moncayola, from the mud to the elite in two years. Spanish.
  26. Web site: A diferencia del Fabril, el Iruña no podrá disputar los playoffs de ascenso. Marca. 11 October 2021. 14 May 2018. Unlike Fabril, Iruña will not be able to play the promotion playoffs. Spanish.
  27. Web site: Osasuna firma un acuerdo de filialidad con el Club Deportivo Subiza. Diario de Navarra . 11 October 2021. 14 May 2018. Osasuna signs a filiality agreement with Club Deportivo Subiza. Spanish.
  28. Web site: Plantilla Juvenil DH. es. CA Osasuna.
  29. http://arquero-arba.futbolme.net/Juveniles/indexjuv.htm Historical Spanish Juvenile Competition Results
  30. Web site: Historia DH Juvenil. Sporting y Espanyol campeones en 2004 . History of Youth Honour Division; Sporting and Espanyol champions in 2004 . Spanish . Vendovos Mareo . 11 March 2011. 26 September 2017.