Aston Villa have just added Real Sociedad to their pre-season schedule with the La Liga side visiting Walsall’s Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium on Saturday 25 July.
- Kick-off is at 3pm on Saturday 25 July at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium in Walsall
- The fixture is Villa’s second confirmed domestic pre-season game following the Walsall friendly on 21 July
- Ticket details and VillaTV streaming information will be announced in due course
- The game carries a significant transfer subplot: Ander Barrenetxea remains a key Emery target
The fixture. A meaningful addition to a packed schedule
Aston Villa‘s pre-season programme is taking impressive shape. Four confirmed fixtures across four weeks of preparation, each serving a specific and deliberate purpose ahead of the Champions League campaign that follows. The Real Sociedad addition on 25 July sits between the opening Walsall friendly on 21 July and the Hong Kong showpiece against Bayern Munich on 7 August, providing a competitive mid-level test against established European opposition at a moment when squad fitness and tactical cohesion will be building steadily.
The choice of Walsall’s Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium as the venue is a familiar and locally rooted one. The ground hosted the Walsall friendly that opens pre-season and its accessibility for the West Midlands fanbase makes it an ideal location for a second community-facing fixture before the squad travels internationally.
Kick-off is at 3pm. Ticket details will be confirmed in due course. All pre-season fixtures including this one will be broadcast live on VillaTV, with streaming information to follow.
Real Sociedad. Who are Villa facing?
Real Sociedad are one of La Liga’s most consistently admired and intelligently run clubs. The Basque outfit, based in San Sebastián, have established themselves as genuine European competitors across the past decade, combining youth development excellence with smart recruitment to consistently challenge in the upper reaches of Spanish football.
Their 2025-26 La Liga campaign delivered another solid mid-table European qualification push, reflecting a club that punches above its financial weight through tactical intelligence, squad coherence and a distinctive style of play under their manager. Real Sociedad Europa League campaigns in recent seasons have demonstrated their ability to compete across two fronts simultaneously: experience that will make them a genuinely testing pre-season opponent for Emery’s squad.
Their academy, one of Spain’s most respected, has produced generation after generation of technically gifted players. The specific approach to developing young talent with technical excellence and positional intelligence mirrors many of the qualities Villa themselves have sought to cultivate under Emery‘s management.
The Barrenetxea subplot. Transfer interest meets pre-season football
The most intriguing dimension of this fixture is its transfer subplot. Aston Villa have been pursuing Real Sociedad’s Ander Barrenetxea throughout the summer with Emery personally driving the pursuit of the 24-year-old winger and the club prepared to break their transfer record to activate his €75m release clause.
That specific pursuit ongoing and advanced, makes the 25 July fixture one of the most fascinating pre-season encounters on Villa’s entire schedule. Barrenetxea will almost certainly be involved for Real Sociedad. Emery will see him up close, in a match environment, in the days before any final transfer decision. The game could serve as the definitive scouting exercise or, in the most dramatic scenario, as the final audition before a deal is completed.
Villa’s full pre-season schedule
| Date | Fixture | Venue | Kick-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 21 July | Walsall | Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium | 7:30pm |
| Saturday 25 July | Real Sociedad | Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium | 3pm |
| Friday 7 August | Bayern Munich | Hong Kong | TBC |
| Wednesday 12 August | UEFA Super Cup vs PSG | Stadion Salzburg | 9pm CET |
| Saturday 15 August | Borussia Mönchengladbach | Borussia-Park | 3:30pm local |
ReadAstonVilla Verdict
Real Sociedad at Walsall on 25 July is a genuinely compelling pre-season addition: competitive, European, and loaded with transfer intrigue. Watching Barrenetxea against the club pursuing him while Emery looks on from the touchline is the kind of pre-season subplot that rarely materialises so perfectly. Buy a ticket. Watch closely. And hope the transfer follows the performance.
