Club football is back. New Season, new manager, new pre-season opponents.

Ipswich Town kick-off their pre-season preparations against Osasuna, down the road at the JobServe Community Stadium, on Wednesday 29th July. I enjoy writing these previews more than any others as they provide a chance to look at a completely new side from a different division.

Osasuna are in Spain's top division, but only just. They finished 17th last season, staying up on goal difference following a run of five straight defeats. That run cost previous manager Alessio Lisci his job after just one season in charge.

His replacement is Luis Miguel Ramis, who will get his first shot at the top flight, having spent the last few years in La Liga 2 with Espanyol and then Burgos Club de Fútbol. Ramis cut his managerial teeth at Real Madrid Castilla (the Spanish side's B team) before spells at Almeria, Albacete and Tenerife.

Osasuna largely played with a 4-2-3-1 last season. However, Ramis did prefer a 4-4-2 at Burgos and went with that formation in their first pre-season game which resulted in a 2-0 victory over Real Racing Club.

At the point of writing there has been limited transfer activity with the main movement being out of the club, with young winger Victor Munoz moving to Liverpool for €40 million. The former Real Madrid player went to the World Cup with Spain but spent the entirety of the tournament on the bench.

As you can see, last season there was a very consistent line-up. In goal Sergio Herrera kept seven clean sheets with back-up keeper Aitor Fernandez dipping in for two La Liga games and four in the Copa Del Rey.

At right-back one of just three foreign players in the squad, Frenchman Valentin Rossier was the chosen starter with Iñigo Arguibide his back-up, the 21-year-old having progressed through the Osasuna youth set-up.

Cameroonian Enzo Boyomo and Spaniard Alejandro Catena were the most used centre-backs but Jorge Herrado also played 28 times, always as the left-centre-back, which is why the average positions in the most used XI look a bit weird there.

Boyomo and Catena are both naturally right-footed and offer different profiles in the centre-back role with Catena who is close to 6ft 4in unsurprisingly excelling in clearances and Boyomo a more aggressive presser winning more tackles in the midfield third per 90 than any other player in the squad.

Asier Osambela came through the Osasuna youth teams as a midfielder but was shifted to centre-back by previous manager Lisci as a bit of a utility option. It remains to be seen where Ramis sees him playing.

At left-back, Javi Gailan has left on a free to Celta Vigo which currently just leaves Abel Bretones there. Bretones was first choice before Gailan came in in January and will be looking to use this opportunity to reclaim his place.

Gailan will be a big miss as he was Osasuna's main creative outlet averaging more touches, more carries and more passes per 90 than anyone else in the squad

In midfield, we've got the formation down as a 4-2-3-1 but as you can see from the average position, it looks like more of a 4-3-3. Lucas Torró is the sitter and is another who excels in aerial duels. He won 70% of his duels last season, averaging 3.05 successful aerial per game.

His partner is Jon Moncayola who will play slightly more advanced and is the chance creator in the side. He created 0.24 big chances per game last season, making 6.14 progressive passes per game, whilst also still hitting good numbers for ball wins, recoveries and tackles, particularly in the midfield third.

Aimar Oroz represents the last player in the midfield three, operating more as a number 10 but playing a freer role. Like the rest of the midfield, his defensive numbers are good with 0.64 final third ball wins per game and 0.36 midfield third tackle wins per game, but it's his carrying threat that is the thing to watch out for.

Apart from the departed Munoz and Gailan, he carried the ball further than any other player in the squad with 4.86 of those carries per game coming in the final third. Despite that he only ended up with two assists and didn't find the back of the net at all.

Iker Muñoz and Moi Gómez represent the depth options in the squad.

On the right-hand side Ruben Garcia will likely give the Town left a good challenge. He finished the season with two goals and five assists and made a large number of key passes. He is Osasuna's set-piece taker so like the man he's likely to be facing, Leif Davis, his numbers for any passing metrics and chances created will be overweighted due to those set-piece deliveries.

The biggest recruitment challenge Osasuna will face is replacing Munoz on the left. Their in-house options include Raúl Moro, signed in January 2026 from Ajax, Iker Benito, who despite having a number of loans away from the club has failed to make a real breakthrough, and Kike Barja, who at 29 has been at Osasuna throughout his whole career but made a grand total of two starts last season.

Jonathan Dubasin is the one and only incoming transfer that Osasuna have made so far this window. The winger arrives from Sporting Gijón in La Liga 2 where he scored 16 goals last season and could make his debut on Wednesday night.

The most important person left in the squad is arguably Ante Budimir. The 34-year-old Croatian has been at the World Cup following an impressive return of 17 goals in 37 appearances last season. His goalscoring importance is shown by the fact he scored 40.48% of Osasuna's goals last season. Only Vedat Muriqi of Mallorca netted a higher percentage of his team's total goal tally.

Raúl García de Haro was his back-up and ended up as Osasuna's second-highest goalscorer with seven goals, despite only starting six games. Six of those seven goals came from off the bench, but he proved he could also score from the start where needed with seven goals in four Copa Del Rey matches.

armchaircritic59 added 00:11 - Jul 29 The thing with La Liga is the overall strength of the league is below that of the English PL. On the latest Opta stats of the worlds leagues as of right now, unsurprisingly the PL is top with 93.1 points, La Liga comes in 3rd after the Bundesliga with 87.4 points which is a fair drop off. There's a bigger drop off once you get past the top few clubs in La Liga than there is in the PL. So I reckon this is a pretty good friendly to organise and should give us at least a bit of a guide as to where we stand right now. Though of course, probably the most important thing is minutes in legs, in what should be a competitive match, one we should win, but I hope no toys get thrown out of various prams if we don't.

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