Does the Cazorla news mean Arsenal desperately need another midfielder?

For the second season in a row, Arsenal have lost their super-influential midfielder Santi Cazorla to a long term injury, and there is little sign of him returning any time in the near future, despite his Achilles operation judged to be a success. The little Spaniard had only played 8 League games in this campaign before his injury, and Arsene Wenger doesn’t sound very confident on any return date. At 32 years of age his recovery was always going to be difficult.

Wenger said yesterday: “At the moment, he is far [from returning]. It’s not going as quickly as I imagined it, so certainly in January he will not come back.”

The media then suggested that perhaps it could be another three months? “It could be a bit longer. At the moment I don’t really know, but I just have a schedule that he is not planned at the moment to go outside and run. I think once a player goes outside and runs without any problems, you come six weeks. At the moment he has not been out so that’s why I say in January he will certainly not play.”

Santi has been one of our best midfielders for many years, and Wenger admitted that his absence was very frustrating. “It is because he’s such a great player and as well because he has started the season in such a tremendous way.” Wenger continued. “He was the dominating player in our squad at the start of the season and we suddenly lost him.”

We were all hoping he would come back in January, especially as we knew that Mohamed Elneny would be going off to the African Cup of Nations, but instead we are now in a precarious position in midfield as Francis Coquelin is also out again with a hamstring injury, after having already missed one month of the season previously.

This means that the only recognised central midfielders we will have for January are Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey, and considering that the Welshman has only just returned from a long injury himself I am not hopeful he can play every game….

What do you think? Does Wenger need to dip into the transfer market urgently? Or can we promote someone from the Under 23’s?

It’s a shame we can’t recall Jack Wilshere…..

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15 Comments

  1. We all know that the little spainiards days are numbered and we also all know just what a major influence he is in the side, the question is who would we replace him with?
    with Wenger and the board being the worlds all time tightest B@stards its highly unlikely that we will get another Santi for such a low amount of money. There are others out there who are as good if not better but Wenger as we are all aware wont spend the money so we will get a cheaper and inferior model and we’ll be told that he’s the next big thing…I refer of course to the highly fted Sanogoals who was apparently going to be the next Thierry Henry and has now seemingly disapeared into th mist.

  2. I’d like if we could go and get that Pjanic fellow, Juventus are good talent spotters and those Bosnians are both tough and good with their feet. With Juve snapping this one up well then he’s possibly best of the bunch. It would be good having a creative player who also knows how to tackle, this was said to be Xhaka, but I think Xhaka is meant for Coquelin upgrade. Juventus aren’t gonna sell, and our links to this player is probably just retaliation for the Juve – Alexis links.

  3. We do need another creative midfielder, but it won’t happen this month. Wenger always likes to try and solve problems from within, he loves Ramsey, so he’ll be Cazorla’s replacement. Given the fitness, and form of Wilshere, he would be the perfect option, but clearly Arsenal decided not to put a clause in allowing us to terminate the loan, despite the fact we have an injury crisis every season. Possibly the stupidest decision Arsenal could have made!

  4. We are looking very thin carzola wont be back elneny is out until at least the end of February we need to bluster our midfield our attacking midfield yes we can shuffle around with elexis and ozil and iwobi but is it the long term answer no I dont think so as the attacking midfield is the place where most injuries occur along the side of the defense so if any one else gets injured we will very short and in deep trouble maybe after all we should call upon fabergas if no one else is available on a personal preference I would prefer veratie

    1. Hundred percent dude, would love to see Verratti in a Gunners shirt. However, if someone can prize him away from PSG, my money would be on Spain obv, and Chelsea Juventus being another two. Chelsea because of Conte and because they work hard to get the players that they want. And Juventus if he gets home sick, which allot of Italians do.

  5. Wenger doesn’t believe in youngsters anymore. Look at Dele Ali at Spurs, 20 year old. If you put him 1 on 1 with Zelalem or Daniel Crowley, I am sure he would see flames. These are the type of youngsters we need on the side. Even Akpom, in terms of ability, skill and pace, I think he murder Harry Kane. The less said about Joel Campbell, the better.

    1. @soweto_gunner
      I agree, Dele Ali is deadly. And that we have no youngsters that match the fight dude has. But you are clueless when it comes to Joel Campbell…

      1. Meant to say, Joel Campbell’s situation is heartbreaking. Getting a raw deal from the boss. So I dont even want to dwell on it.

  6. I wonder why some fans give negative names to Arsene unnecessarily. You called him “tightest b*st***” when discussing about replacing Santi Carzorla. As if it was you who forced the player(Santi) on him from La Liga in the first place. You are very fast in naming failed players like Sanogo at the slightest opportunity. All great football clubs have once or presently have players who either lived up to expectation or failed to live up to expectation. It is natural a trend in football. Some guys used to label Arsene as someone who will never drop some players once they are available. But he has proved them wrong over the last 3 seasons. Who will ever expect a young player like Bellerin to bench a newly signed Debuchy (French). Need I mention the emergence of Iwobi or the use of Sanchez as a cf while Giroud was mostly on the bench.
    Arsenal’s major cause of concern in recent times is injury.

    As for the replacement of Carzola, I feel it will be difficult to get a proper player in this window. Why not give another youth a chance in that position. Players like Zelalem and Maitland can fill- in the short time as cm. Adelaide is more of an attacking midfielder.

  7. Yes, but there is nobody good enough available in January, so we’re kind of screwed. Even when cazorla gets fit again we need a replacement for next season. At this point it appears Santi might be leaving anyways in summer.

    1. what does the word ‘available’ mean in football? Payet,Isco are available n any1 else depends on how much you want them.

  8. dnt know if Iwobi could do well in the CM role while Lucas or Welbz play LW but his defensive work is still poor.

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