Vicente is back in training with Albion.

But fans will have to wait before they see him in action for the Seagulls again.

The Spanish star will play no part in Saturday’s opening pre-season friendly at Maidstone.

His earliest involvement in the build-up to the Championship campaign will be at Lewes or Dorchester next week and he will not play a full game before August.

Vicente jetted back from Spain on Sunday. He linked up with the rest of the squad for training yesterday amid the saga surrounding his future.

Wayne Bridge also joined his new team-mates for the first time following the season-long loan capture of the former England left-back from Manchester City.

The pair are a week behind the rest of the squad and have been given individual programmes to bring them up to speed.

Boss Gus Poyet revealed: “We are going to do a special programme for Vicente and another one for Wayne Bridge. When you have a plan for six or seven weeks in pre-season you do things in a certain way because of the time you have got.

“Then there are players who have missed four or six sessions and if you then do exactly the same with them they are always going to be a week behind the rest.

“At the moment everything is fine with Vicente. He started with us yesterday, did part of the fitness and part of the football.

“We normally start with the players playing 45 minutes after two weeks, so we need to make a decision if he is going to play that at Lewes (July 17) or Dorchester (July 20). He is not going to play this Saturday, that’s for sure.

“We want him to be in Spain (tour July 22 to 29), with the possibility of being able to play for 75 minutes and then for a full 90 when we come back.”

Poyet, meanwhile, will decide whether to use Bridge in the Maidstone friendly following discussions with club doctor Helge Riepenhof.

Albion triggered a one-year option on Vicente’s contract before it expired at the end of June to protect their interests, after previously indicating they would not tie him to the deal.

Vicente’s partner recently gave birth to their second child and the club attributed his delayed return from Spain to personal issues.