The first phase, which began this Monday, consists of removing the old surface and starting to relay the new one on Wednesday. It should be ready for Saturday if the weather is favourable.
The Basques travel to Real Madrid this weekend which gives them more time to get the pitch ready. The Sociedad coach, Imanol Alguacil, was critical of the pitch after the draw with Leganes because he felt it prevented his team from playing free-flowing football.
After playing against Eibar, the second phase will be carried out. Artificial fibres will be put in the pitch and a hybrid surface will be created. That will take place between 2nd and 11th December.
The new surface will be ready for the Barca match-up on 14th December. Barca were actually the first team to play at the renovated ground back in September 2018. On that occasion, the pitch was being closely observed after the controversy with Valladolid's playing surface against the Catalans two weeks earlier.