Spanish side Real Union ‘turned their back’ when they decided to break an agreement with Real Sociedad to link themselves to Aston Villa instead.
That’s according to Antiguoko president Edorta Salegui, who appears to be less than impressed with the Gipuzkoan neighbours.
Real Union entered into a partnership agreement with Aston Villa late last year, signing a deal that will see the two clubs share data, players and everything in between.
The deal was facilitated by the Emery family, with Aston Villa manager Unai Emery one of the owners of the Spanish side and his brother their president.
For an agreement to be signed, Real Union had to first break off a similar agreement with Real Sociedad.
They were just one of several smaller sides in the Gipuzkoa region that have a collaboration agreement with their larger neighbours, which largely involves players moving between the sides.
They have a longstanding history of developing players for Real Sociedad, with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta having graduated from the club before appearing for La Real.
And it seems their current president has no plans to change that, taking something of a swipe at Real Union and their new agreement with Aston Villa in his comments on the matter.
“I would like to know what pressures Real Unión has had, one of the clubs that has contributed the fewest players to Real,” he said.
“However, one of those who has had the most support from Real and the Guipuzcoan institutions overnight turns his back on the blue and white and goes to Aston Villa. The same club that said its securities were not for sale.
“When we signed for Athletic the next day, several clubs in Gipuzkoa released a statement, including Real Unión, in which they said that their values were not for sale.
“That was very serious for me. It is one of the clubs that joined the party against us. ‘Our values are not for sale,’ they said. Aston Villa comes, and they are sold.
“Social media has not been given the same scope as in our case, and not even in the media, where the emphasis has been placed on the fact that they do it because of the Emery family’s relationship with the club.
“If tomorrow we leave Athletic and go with Arsenal here it would look good, I don’t know, but not bad.”
