José Rodríguez leaves Real Sociedad, Ignacio Villamía joins Matarazzo’s staff | OneFootball

Real Sociedad resume on Saturday with changes to Pellegrino Matarazzo’s backroom team, as set-piece specialist José Rodríguez departs and analyst Ignacio Villamía arrives.

The club said in a statement that it thanked José Rodríguez for his work last season and wished him well for the future. Rodríguez, who joined Sergio Francisco’s staff last summer, will not continue after one campaign.

It was the first time La Real had appointed a dedicated set-piece coach, reflecting the growing weight of this phase of the game. Despite his spells at Aston Villa and with Scotland, the side under Sergio Francisco and later Matarazzo were vulnerable from dead balls.

Villamía joins as an analyst. He has worked at Elche in several roles, more recently as an assistant with Switzerland and as a scout for Barcelona’s women.

He was part of Pere Romeu’s staff in 24/25, the season Arsenal took the trophy in the final. He also combines club work with roles at Hudl, a leading global performance analysis platform.

Elsewhere, Matarazzo retains his core staff, with John Maisano and Omer Toprak as second and third coaches, Oier Agirrezabalaga as fitness coach, Jon Alemán as goalkeeping coach, Xabier Ruiz de Ocenda heading analysis, and Héctor Ibáñez as analyst.

The American coach enters his first campaign starting from pre-season, with further squad exits beyond Brais, and new recruits, still to be finalised.

Source: Diario Vasco