What can we expect from Bruno when play resumes?

The most notable piece of on field information we gained from Villarreal returning to training had to be that Bruno Soriano found himself back on the training pitch. At first, I had the same reaction I’m sure we all did ‘Oh wow that’s awesome!’, but then I got to really thinking about it, and frankly the only thing I know for sure about Bruno’s current level of football is that he’s still about a million times better than me.

There really aren’t any rules for what a 35 year does when he more or less hasn’t played since he was 32. Even in the case of our own Santi Cazorla, he had two really badly injury plagued seasons where he at least did something on the pitch as a 30 and 31 year old before having to step away. He then returned at 33. Imagine if Santi didn’t play 2018-2019 at all, and then just popped back up this year, would we really think he would be as good as he is right now?

All this to say, if you’re somehow expecting Bruno to step in, be the pivote we’ve needed all season, and be a regular starter, I think you’re going to be disappointed. It’s not impossible, but being away from the top flight speed of the game for that long and just stepping back in as one of the oldest guys on the pitch is going to be incredibly difficult.

Of course, who knows... all of these questions couild be for nothing. It could be that after being in lockdown for months Bruno returned to training just out of sheer boredom and wanting something to do, and he’ll be mysteriously injured again when it’s time to start playing.

What do you think?

How good will Bruno be if he returns to the lineup?