Noooo! Cazorla not to play for Arsenal again for some time….?

I’m not sure how strange all these rumours about Santi Cazorla are at the moment, but I do know that Arsene Wenger has been very evasive when asked about Arsenal’s little Spaniard. Just yesterday, when asked about when Santi would return, he said: “Cazorla I don’t know, honestly. It’s just inflammation. It can go in two days, two weeks – I don’t know. He has no setback, the inflammation is just still here. At the moment, it’s stable.”

To be honest he has been saying for some weeks that he doesn’t know when Cazorla will be back, so it was a bit of a shock to read that one of our most important players (according to a Poll on here a few weeks back) is actually in need of surgery on his Achilles, and it could keep him out for at least 3 months according to Sky, and maybe even the rest of the season.

Apparently this afternoon, the Spanish journalist Eduardo Fernandez-Abascal – who has broken fresh stories about Hector Bellerin and Lucas Perez in the past – took to Twitter to announce that surgery is required.

“Been told that Santi Cazorla has been advised to undergo surgery to correct Achilles injury,” he was reported as saying. “The operation would keep Santi Cazorla on the sidelines until 2017 but will be good in the long-term.

“Cazorla visited a top European specialist earlier this week. Arsenal and the player are expected to make a final decision soon.”

The strange thing is that if Wenger has been party to these discussions, why hasn’t he been totally honest with the fans about it? Does he really need to be so secretive all the time?

Darren N

17 Comments

  1. If they don’t know the cause for the inflammation, then surgery will help but there’s no guarantee that the inflammation would return again. His ache seems to be chronic which sounds to me quite serious. Besides, haven’t his Achilles heel already been operated?

    If the surgery will take place in then I guess Santi has played his last matches for Arsenal…

    We need someone to replace him in January, or at least cover until summer when the real players are available.

      1. Well at the moment I would take Jack back in a heartbeat..

        Let us not forget that Chelsea bought Matic in January and he was an immense reinforcement for them. There are quality available but would AW pay the price or would he rather get already injured freebie like Källström?

    1. Well, that’s it. We’re pretty much done. I am not sure if anyone understands what a blow this is for our league challenge. Bar a miracle (e.g. Xhaka to be really ready for the challenge sooner rather than later) I don’t see how can we put pressure on top teams. And whoever though Jack would have been the answer I will point you to the game last weekend: Bournemouth weren’t exactly weak without him. Besides, whoever should deputize for Cazorla must be an experienced and intelligent player. Do you see Wilshere being intelligent in his game? He has the skills but putting your head down and charge does not really require lot of thought. I wish Wenger stops playing Ramsey out of position just for the sake of having him in the team. Either you make a commitment, either you send him away. You can see the tensions between Wenger and Ramsey. It needs fine tuning, it needs confidence, it needs tact. Don’t believe me? Look at Balotelli today. Found his mojo, went to purgatory and now he’s back. I said it last season, I don’t know if Wenger can motivate this team to win these games. Sure, it works when you play big names, but these are the games you should win consistently.

  2. Typical situation at Arsenal. Sounds like a player isn’t too far away from a return, then suddenly they’re out long-term. I agree with Juhi McLovin, we need to sign a quality creative midfielder in January, which is easier said, than done. Elneny, and Ramsey, are not the answer. Xhaka, and Coquelin are our only options for me, but they’re more defensive.

    I wonder if we can get Wilshere back? He’s playing well, seems fit for once, and given our history with injuries, it would be sheer incompetence on Arsenal’s part if they didn’t have some clause in the loan deal that allowed them to terminate it.

  3. Even though Ramsey is not popular among the fans right now, I feel he can be Cazorla’s replacement. We just need to be patient with him. Remember, Sanchez was deemed not good as a striker, but look at him now, a world class central forward.

    I think Ramsey needs guidance from Arsenal staffs and more senior players to achieve his true potential. He might not be as gifted as Cazorla in ball control department and not as calm as Cazorla, but he has tremendous energy and work rate as a box-to-box midfielder. Sanchez modelled his movements like Messi, so I think Ramsey can learn a lot from Cazorla.

    1. We need to be patient with Ramsey, is that a joke? We’ve been patient for about 8 years in regards to him. Last time he performed with any consistency was 3 years ago! I have to say, that words like patience, and potential, should be banned from now when it comes to talking about anything to do with Arsenal. Ramsey has been shocking since returning from injury, and wasn’t any good before then.

  4. 3 months I’ve read… xhaka needs a run of games now. Recall jack in January and give them ramsey..

    1. the illusion that jack is any better. Two players who haven’t been good enough for Arsenal in a long time.

      1. When was the last time jack had then run of games ramsey has had? I agree with you but at least jack passes forward more than twice a game.

  5. Xhaka has to play now. He’ll be heavily relied upon so I hope this will bring the best out of him. This is one of the reasons why we bought him, not so soon one would hope but we can’t control these things. He looked good next to Elneny but Wenger will likely go with Coquelin, he needs to forge a proper understanding with at least one of them. I hope Wenger will afford Xhaka the time to make this position his own. There’s Ramsey to consider too, but I’d only choose him for games that an extra attacker is needed, like when teams sit ten men behind the D. It might not happen instantly for Xhaka, but I have a good feeling he’ll do the job so long as we let him know just how much we need and believe in him.

  6. Wenger sounds as frustrated as everyone else. I think it’s a bit rich to be accusing him of being secretive. This is just one of those injuries that no one seems to have any idea about recovery time. As for who can replace him – I can’t see past Xhaka but he’s gotten step up big time. Ramsey? Only if we want our b2b midfielder to be ahead of Sanchez most of the time. I’d welcome Jack back in a heartbeat. But fact is, it’s a big drop from our little maestro to second choice. I’m off to kick the cat…

  7. The word on the street is that Cazorla won’t be back until February. We all know that that really means that he is out for the rest of the season. There are two players that can really play his role 1) Wilshere 2) Fabregas. With Wilshere practically unavailable, I think it is high time to bring Fabregas back home.

  8. Don’t see the point of holding onto players that are out 90% of the time anymore. Same goes for Wilshere, who has yet to even show he’s Arsenal quality since he was 19. We won’t be winning anything this season without a creative deep-lying player. And Xhaka has been decent so far but he’s more defensive player and is not able to fill the Cazorla role. This team is in huge trouble.

  9. What many are missing is elneny out in jan feb for African cup. santi out. left with xhaka and coq of which only one can play, otherwise disaster. So only ramsey or Ox can fill the slot. also perez and ox needed to be a sub for iwobi or cover for Walcott sanchez. So ox can be 100% depended for cm.
    We have two more cm in wilshere and jon toral but cant recall.

    So choice is to either promote and get niles to play as cm in training from now or buy.
    Guess what arsene would do ?
    1. Jan cant give a permanent replacement for cazorla and so doesn’t buy and some injury in midfield mess the second half of season( arsenal record in recent times- if 1 part of season good, other is gone)
    2. would he even replace cazorla in summer?

    on side note I think a strong positional awareness , pacey and good stamina left back is necessary in jan.

  10. This is Xhaka’s chance to prove why he was brought in for 35 mil. Unfortunately it will take him time to find his feet. And we’re heading into the four tough games in EPL: WHU away, Stoke home, Everton away and Mancity away. We’d be very lucky to get nine points out of these matches without Cazorla.

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