AirPods Pro cannot be associated with new Apple Account due to deleting old account

Hey guys.

I have AirPods Pro gen 1. I had my old Apple Account deleted and created a new one. I was unaware that AirPods were locked to accounts like iPhones (grrr). I did not remove it from the old account's Find My. I see that I can reset the AirPods, but I cannot associate them with my new account.

Is this permanent or is there a way to get it taken care of by Apple? Could I recreate the old account using the same email address and associate the AirPods with that account and then remove them? Doubt it.

In case it helps, I still have the old account's 12 digit access code and I have access to the email address used with that account.

I wonder if this will have a negative impact on the selling value of them when I go to sell them someday.

Thanks!