Villarreal news: Bruno Soriano, Jonathan dos Santos, more

Bruno Soriano has returned from vacation a bit early, and is already doing some workouts in the Sports City. He is still feeling some discomfort in his left knee; patellar tendinitis kept him out of action against Barcelona and limited his effectiveness at times as the season wore down. He said he played the last few matches with discomfort and has some swelling in his knee now. He’s hoping to be ready to go July 10, but it doesn’t sound good.

Jonathan dos Santos was part of the Mexican team that lost to Germany today in the Confederations Cup semifinal. The 4-1 scoreline was perhaps not indicative of the overall play—Mexico wasted some great chances to score—but no question, Germany were the deserved winners and will now meet Chile in the final. Jona played well in the tournament and now has a couple of weeks off before reporting to Vila-real.

And, our ladies’ team has a new ‘signing’. Enes Ünal’s girlfriend, Lisa Smellers, will be joining our ladies’ side this season. She is a central defender, and last season played for Twente’s ladies’ side. (They met when Ünal was playing for Genk, on loan from Manchester City). Welcome, Lisa!

Finally, for all you football-starved folks, the first leg of the first round of the Europa League qualifying kicked off today. It’s not too likely any of these clubs will make it to the group stage proper, though last year Azerbaijani club Gabala defeated Lille and Maribor to get to the group stage, where they got no points. (They made it through in 2015 as well).

Endavant Villarreal!