Player Focus: Bruno coming into his own as Villarreal's leader

He spent a year away from Spain’s top flight, and with every game that passes in Villarreal’s first season back after promotion, Bruno Soriano is making sure he firmly re-establishes himself as one of La Liga’s most revered midfielders. While doing so, he’s bringing the good times back to the club from the Valencian Community.

When Villarreal cut costs at the club following their relegation in 2011/2012, they made sure not to go anywhere near Bruno. In fact, they did quite the opposite, handing him a new deal for an unprecedented five years on top of his deal that already went to 2015 – in theory, he could still be a crew member aboard the Yellow Submarine in 2020 at the age of 36. Bruno refused to abandon ship, a player of immense quality staying with the club he’d found a home at. He’s the top earner on a seemingly paltry €1.5m by standards today, and he deserves every single dime.

Bruno had a slew of offers thrown his way, some abroad and others close to home, such as Valencia. “Everyone knows that there were offers and there has been some difficult times, but from the beginning I always said that my first choice was the Villarreal” said the now 29-year-old. Even in that relegation year, Bruno impressed amongst his peers. WhoScored ranked him as 11th overall in La Liga’s 2011/12 ratings, with a fine 7.37. This season he’s going even better, coming in at 7.52. He’s the fulcrum of this new Villarreal side, central to everything they produce and more importantly this time around, his teammates are keeping up with him – the club is sitting pretty, 4th in La Liga, taking 27 points from a possible 42.

With the likes of Borja Valero and Santi Cazorla long gone, it’s Bruno who is the major influence on this team. Gio Dos Santos may provide the definition; Cani the flair; Uche the goals; but it’s Bruno who makes the team function as one as he recognises the responsibility before him. Operating as a unit was something, even when blessed with talent, often Villarreal failed to do. He provides the perfect balance in midfield, acknowledging both his duties defensively and when roaming into attack. Few players possess such well-rounded and versatile statistics to back up their displays.

Defensively Bruno offers a multitude of assets to his team, from his experience and reading of the game, to positional astuteness and physicality. These are identified by WhoScored, citing his concentration and tackling as two strengths. Only 6 players in La Liga have aided their team more in the midfield third by winning possession, with Bruno doing so 53 times. Bruno has made a total of 46 tackles; on average that comes in at 3.3 per game, ranking him 1st at Villarreal and 18th overall of regular starters in La Liga. When it comes to interceptions he’s equally proficient, with 2.1 per game, making him 2nd at Villarreal of players with at least 5 appearances. His 3 clearances and 1.9 aerial duels won per game also show that the other combative aspects of Bruno’s defensive game aren’t neglected.

When Borja Valero and Santi Cazorla were part of the team at Villarreal, Bruno was mainly deployed as a screener in midfield that started attacks but more importantly broke up those of opponents’. Now though, he’s asked to do more when his team move through the attacking transition, even though Gio and Cani are there. In terms of forward passes, only Roberto Trashorras (381) has made more than Bruno (373). Bruno’s a purposeful passer, but also excellent retainer of possession. The more you investigate the game of Bruno, a more rounded character begins to unfold – one that every team would desperately like to possess. On average he makes the 5^thmost passes per game in La Liga, at 63.4 per game. All the more impressive when considering that he manages to maintain an accuracy of 85.7%.

A crucial aspect of Villarreal’s game down the years has been the short passing; swift, intricate and easy on the eye. It made them a neutral’s favourite. Even though they have changed style slightly, Bruno looks to keep some of those old Villarreal values. Only Xavi and Trashorras (820 each) for instance, have attempted more short passes in La Liga this season than Bruno (710). The neat exchanges, give-and-go moves in the final third and high tempo are keeping alive the old Villarreal spirit.

End product is not something that evades Bruno. He’s not just a bunch of numbers, and this has been shown when finding the net on 2 occasions and also making 2 assists. Given his desire to support the attack, we can expect to both increase over the course of the season even though his key passes stand at 0.8 per game and shots on goal 1.1 per game.

Bruno is a player that could, and certainly should, be mixing it up at the highest level. He played no part in the Champions League this week, and the same can be said for when Vicente Del Bosque next selects a Spain squad. Marcelino García Toral recently fretted over it; “It’s not fair that Bruno hasn’t been called up to la selección.” He continued; “If Xabi and Busquets aren’t there, he’s the best.” How many a major club – and nation – could do with a player of Bruno’s ilk; versatile, committed, technically gifted and thorough when assigned a task.

Now to go with all of that he’s a leader too. Somehow, to the detriment of other teams, it’s all while still at Villarreal.