Santi Cazorla’s excellent spell in the Premier League with Arsenal came to an end last summer but he has thrived in La Liga with Villarreal.
Few players in world football have gone through the wringer quite like Santi Cazorla.
Once one of the Premier League’s most skilful and likeable midfielders, Cazorla’s last few years at Arsenal were nothing short of a nightmare. The affable Spaniard suffered almost three years of horrendous injury problems and failed to make a single appearance in his final season at The Emirates before his contract came to an end.
But, after so many hours of rehabilitation and staving off the very real threat of having his foot amputated, as revealed in an interview with the Guardian, Cazorla is back to his brilliant best, prancing around the football pitch and mixing it with the very best again.
At the age of 34, the veteran play-maker is playing some of the best football of his career since returning to Villarreal, the club who sold him to Arsenal for £15 million in the summer of 2012 (BBC).
Cazorla has scored four goals and produced seven assists back in La Liga but the statistics don’t do his influence justice. He was magnificent in Villarreal’s 4-4 draw with Barcelona on Tuesday and, in truth, he could have been wearing red and blue rather than yellow.
With Cazorla’s contract expiring in July, there are even some Arsenal fans who want to see him given one last chance in North London. But this would be a far from sentimental signing.
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