A free transfer. A frustrated role at his previous club. A 37th birthday before Christmas. The bullet points don’t scream progression... but fear not. Alex Miller reports from Budapest.

There were murmuring and utterings and one or two that would have preferred the club to pack it up and move on. The timing of Barry Bannan’s emotional departure to Millwall left some with a sour taste. With everything going on, perhaps it was the right time to leave ties cut.

Except they never really were. From the moment team Storch had one hand on the good ship Wednesday, their considerations over the return of Bannan were one of Sheffield’s worst kept secrets. By the time his tour of personal appearances throughout the Steel City this summer were over, it seemed the only left to do was sort the thing. And after a little twisting and turning in its late stages, the legend returneth.

But what of the age, the exit, the knee of occasional bandage? A few months away it may well have been, but Bannan looked a battered and frustrated figure towards the end of what is now a first Owls spell. Would he return the same player and man?

It’s a fair enough question. A wrangle or two with the dugout at Millwall has been implied by those close to him, a frustration at the role he found himself in evident. For a player of Bannan’s numbers and quality at Championship level, it was a source of curiosity up north that the Lions went about their third place finish largely without him - though with bit between his teeth there were displays that showed what they were passing-up.

Watching out from the mercy of shade at their Hungarian training camp, it was clear to see what Wednesday have brought back. On a day that saw Wednesday’s coaching staff set up to speed up their transition moments, to make better use of space and movements in possession, drills time and again delivered scenarios tight in space and low in time.

Drills aimed at breaking lines and timing passes were his manor from heaven. A flick here, a threaded pass there; allay your Bannan fears and make no mistake, the old boy still has it.

He looked fit and firing and trained with a smile on his boat, as they may have said in Bermondsey. There was a snarl to some of his movements and a competitive edge he’s built a career on. It’s expected that Liam Palmer will continue as a named club captain, but Bannan will retain a great deal of the bite and leadership, no doubt. In less frustrating circumstances, the occasional acid outbursts noticed from the stands from time to time should calm.

Henrik Pedersen wishes to build a sharper, more energetic side from this season and a 36-year-old regular starter may not be the profile he’ll want to spread across the line-up. It seems likely that in a Wednesday set-up that will weigh itself in on individual needs, it seems likely his will be a programme tailored around getting the best out of him on a matchday.

But Bannan’s quality makes him a special case. After all that happened on his holiday down south, you rather feel the opportunity to finish his career at home is one he’ll lap up. The youngsters still look to him on the training field and with the runners ahead of him, you can bank on some vintage moments that would make Zidane blush in the next few months.