The La Liga club had planned for players to train individually at the club’s facilities but performed a U-turn on Sunday
Real Sociedad have abandoned plans to return to training on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sociedad were set to become the first La Liga team to resume training, albeit individually at the club’s facilities, after signalling their intent on Saturday.
La Liga was suspended last month due to Covid-19 , which has killed over 114,000 people globally and more than 17,200 in Spain – where strict travel and social-distancing measures have been enforced.
Sociedad had outlined a series of precautionary measures but the Spanish side – fourth in La Liga before the postponement – performed a U-turn on Sunday.
“After discussions held with the Consejo Superior de Deportes [CSD] today and in accordance with the will of Real Sociedad, we have decided that our players will continue to train at home. The club is fully aware of its responsibility during the current pandemic,” a statement read.
“Real Sociedad recalls that our decision was to allow players to return to training at Zubieta from Tuesday 14. In no case was this training at Zubieta going to be done in groups. Moreover, it was up to each player to decide whether they wanted to do it at home or at Zubieta. If they wanted to do it at Zubieta, it would be done following the protocols established, which scrupulously respect the security measures put in place by the health authorities.
“We are fully aware of our responsibility and we are working on a plan for getting both our athletes and employees back to work following the protocols established by the authorities. Health is an absolute priority that would take precedence over all other considerations. We believe that we must start working on the transition back to work and we are available to all institutions in order to help in this direction.
“Last but not least, we want to thank the CSD for their friendly attitude during our conversations. We are fully committed to work to overcome this challenge and return to normality as soon as possible.”
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant effect on La Liga’s economy, with competition cheif Javier Tebas admitting that players should expect salary reduction like the general population.
“We are in a moment of exceptional, unpredictable, and enormous-impact crisis,” Tebas said last week.
“Everyone loses money, it seems normal to me that players’ salaries are also reduced. In Spain we did not find an agreement with the union, our negotiations ran aground yesterday.[Monday].
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