Due to a multitude of injury problems, Arsenal’s little Spanish maestro Santi Cazorla only played 7 League games for the Gunners this season, and only played 15 in the previous campaign, so you imagine that the 32 year-old is close to finishing his career at the top. But while Cazorla was on the operating table, Arsene Wenger gave the midfielder a one-year extension to his contract in the hope that he would be able to rejoin the team next season.
But it is now looking like a forlorn hope, as Santi has just revealed the extent of his problems, and has now had yet another operation this week which will keep him out for at least ANOTHER five months, if not even longer, so perhaps it’s time for him to accept his retirement gracefully? “You feel like throwing in the towel,” he said. “but my desire to play football is above everything.
“I haven’t been given a timeframe [to return to action]. It’s very difficult to put a date, but I don’t think it will be before five months.
“It’s been since October that I last played. I’ve undergone eight surgeries, the last one yesterday [Monday].
“I hope that things go better.”
“I’ve had complications since November.
“I got a bacterial infection in surgery, my bone got infected, the wound would not close and I had a graft done.
“I remember I had a bad spell with a back problem [while with Villarreal in 2010] but this is worse because it [healing] doesn’t depend on me.
“Right now I can’t think about the future, I just want to return to play.”
“They [Arsenal] have been very good to me.
“”They gave me a contract extension before I had my surgery [in December]. The coach [Arsene Wenger] spoke to me and reassured me.”
That was very loyal and generous of Arsenal to give Cazorla an extra few million while he is on the treatment table, but perhaps Wenger should have waited until this summer (as he has with all our other contracts!) before assessing his recovery? As much I would love to have him back playing at his best it is becoming extremely unlikely that that is going to happen ever again. I don’t begrudge him the money, unless it means that he is taking up a useless space in the squad that could go to someone younger and fitter.
Is it time to face the fact that Cazorla is now past his sell-by-date….
Darren N
OT:
I know YOU TUUUBE videos have a way of making players look better than they really are. It even made Sir No Goal look like a star.
However, if this Henry Oyekuru fellow is half as descent as he is on YOU TUUBE, we are in for a real treat.
I honestly don’t think Arsenal needs UCL to attract top players…we however, have to loosen the purse strings.
He can move at pace with the ball at his feet, has scored 25 goals playing from the wing for a mediocre team, which means that he should fit in well and shine at Arsenal too ?
I hope that he sticks ‘Henry’ on the back of his shirt instead of his surname. And yes, we are in for a treat.
?Oyekuru- Henry ?
?Oyekuru- Henry ?
?? You catch my drift?
This is the year that will define Arsenal for next 5-6 years. No CL means we should give our all to EPL. If L’pool can do it and beat us this year, I am sure with current group we can be title challengers next year. Cazorla is out again, Sead/Oyekuru look good buys. I am resigned to the fact that Alexis will move(keeping him at the club will be a coup), and Ozil should move if he is greedy for money and thinks he deserves a penny more than what he gets(I bet he does not). We are good at the back unless we want to invest in one CB to replace Per next year. Ox/Ramsey should be given good contracts, and sell Walcott/Debuchy/Gibbs/Sanogo, they gets paid huge numbers for a bench player. Ramsey/Xhaka/Coq/Elneny should handle the middle, bring in a Ozil and Alexis replacement, we need goals. Give Perez more starts, bring a top winger and striker, and we are done. We can afford to have a thin squad and still win EPL this year, so clear the dead wood and replace with quality, so we have a 15-17 member slim but quality squad, who deserve the pay packages
same ole same ole then? Typical under Wenger’s reign
Dude, we rewarded failure with a pay rise!!! Everything else is just a farce.
hahahah!!
Arsene FC must be one of the best places to work at, right after Google.
– unlimited sick notes
– socialist wage structure (no matter how little effort you put in, you can still earn top money)
– charity contracts (whole year sick note, doesn’t matter, Arsene FC will pay for you)
Well atleast we know he wont be available for the start of the season and more likely half season.
unlike last 2 seasons when he was an integral part of the system, this time we can at least a preseason to prepare a system that doesnt need him. 4231 and 4141 all had him as an essential part thus falling apart without him or any proper replacement.
I would Keep cazorla. It doesn’t stop us from buying another quality Midfielder. I don’t blame the Arsenal fans cause we have not bn in the Europa league since God Knows when.
keep the squad as big as possible cause we shall need it. Next season we may have like 60 to 65 games as manchester United played 63 games this year. Every single player in their squad got injured.
A quality player like cazorla could be needed, I just hope is fit for preseason. We have loads of other deadwoods to focus on , rather than targeting cazorla.
1) Debuchy offeres nothing , doesn’t wnat to be here
2) Carl jekinson:
3) yaya Sanogo. free transfer just let himgo
4) joel campbell. Too many loans , sell him
5) Perez, Unlucky but we need and upgrade on him
6) Ospina. Bring sczney and sell Ospina
7)Gibbs: With Sead Kolasanic signing he could go.
That is 7 players already that could leave the club. So yes we need to be caeful cause we need a squad to handle the Europa league.
I wish we crush out of Europa early so that we concentrate on the league. I heard Wenger once saying that Leicester had no many games to play as they were not in Europe, that’s why they won the EPL title, why didn’t he use the same tactic before? he is good at talking but no action. we would have won the league and enter the ECL like a boss, but all he makes is excuses to cover his failures
Thing is, when we crash out of Europa League, we are already be out of title race..
Get well soon.
PS: out means out. **** off Wenger!!!!!!
Well that means probably means we need to find another midfielder with his attributes…. Get well soon Santi!
ahh poor Santi. I really feel for the little genius. If ever a man deserved to express himself with a smile on his face for what he loved and was gifted to do, it is Santi.
We need someone like him but younger and without injury wear to bring that spark of magic that has sadly been missing.
Get Well SC!
i should add, we probably wont get it though..
I think all Arsenal fans must stand behind the manager and the team since wenger has confirmed he is staying. It will do us more good than bad whether you like wenger to stay or go. I just hope we can build on our end of season run and adopt this tactics for next season. We are more balance at the back with this new formation and look more like a team. We just need to add a few more players to the current squad. Mahrez, kolasinac and Henry ? Sell away walcott and those players mentioned by Galen. Lets get behind the team for next season. They need our voices.
Not quite. I actually think now is the time fans protest loud and clear – the deluded one has to understand he is not wanted here. Only then can we talk about progress!
Good luck to Cazorla,he will probably be back in time for our mid-winter slump.
Reports are now suggesting that Wenger will have a £150 million war chest, plus the money made from the sales of 5 players, which could take it to over £250 million.
Mahrez could be heading to Arsenal and I think that £35 million is a steal for this classy attacker, who would fit in well at Arsenal.
Anyways, all we can do now is hope that Wenger pulls his finger out and shows some real intent in the transfer market. Yeah, it won’t be easy to attract WC players with no UCL football next season but at the end of the day players are signing for the long term and not just for one season.
Ask yourself mate, how many world class players have we exactly ‘attracted’ in the 20 years of CL football we had?
That depends on what you would class as being World class?.. Ozil, Sanchez and Cech were (& maybe still) classed as being WC at some point in their careers. But the true reality is.. that Wenger doesn’t like spending Big money on Top quality players, but again, like the above mentioned players, he will occasionally go for a big name player when there’s a bargain price attached to him.
so its official.
ivan says “Ivan said: “There is no complacency anywhere at this club. Our goal is to compete for and win trophies here and in Europe. Everything we do is designed to make that happen and we will be working hard on and off the pitch this summer to improve and make a strong challenge next season. The club has grown beyond recognition in every aspect in recent years and we have the platform to be successful and meet the ambitions we and our fans share.”
mmmm familiar words..
actions however as always speak much louder as we all know!
Oh man.
Kroenke, Wenger and Gazidis are so f’n deluded and out of this world, it’s unreal.
Do they all suffer from Alzheimer’s?
over and out . please enjoy the wenger extension , will talk to you all when the specialist in failure and lies has finally left the buliding .
Guess my taxi will be delayed for another 2 years for our arsene.
Aubemeyang going to Dortmund for £61million and salary of £168,000 per week
Wish Wenger could have bid £70 million and offer £185,000 per week
When I’ve watched Aubemeyang play he hasn’t exactly set my world on fire. I think we already have better young players at the club.
LOL, they’re paying £61 million for their own player!
I think you mean hes off to PSG.
A question & answer from Wengers interview after signing his two year extension.
Q) In terms of the playing squad, what changes do you expect this summer?
AW) “First of all, we have a very heavy squad at the moment so maybe we might lose some players.
“We want to keep the strength we have and build on that. We will work very hard to find the additions of top, top quality. I believe that our squad is very strong and we will only look for top-class people who can strengthen our team now.
“The basis is there so we need the additions who will make a real difference.”
Fork me twice ?? and trice ?? No, make that a quadruple ?? fork it, 5th is our new 4th, JustGangBangMe.com (out of my misery)??ffs!
Merez is a no-brainer. Particularly as we tried to buy last year-
Agree?
Not after the season he just had. Threw a tantrum and stopped playing when HE decided he didn’t want to play under Ranieri. Tired of players like that. We have enough players that give up when things get rough already.
“We can move up to the next level, I’m convinced of that, by having faith in the way we want to play football and by supporting the players we have already.
“Of course we’ll try to strengthen our squad to be stronger next season, but we want to be faithful to the way we want to play the game. We want to support this way [of playing] all together.”
Arsene Wenger.
Ok i am gonna support Arsenal coz i have no choice but it pisses me off when i hear him saying shit like this, “we can move to the next level by supporting the players we already have” we’ve had these players for years and still haven’t come close to winning the league, what makes him think its gonna be different this time..
Have a few hours before I hit the links so here is my most recent, worthless battle plan for Arsenal in the summer transfer window.
Out:
Walcott?
Wilshire?
Gibbs?
Gabriel?
Debuchy?
Jenkinson?
Sanaogo?
Coquelin?
Ospina ?
Perez?
Sanchez?(sell to PSG for L. Mora and $)
*Ospina and Perez deserve first team football and will have plenty of suitors in Europe
*Sanchez deserves to be at a club that matches his passion and ambition.
$70M approx from sales
IN:
Mora(Sanchez trade plus $)
Mahrez
Kolasinac sp?
Lacazette
Carvalho
Oneyrku
*If AW sticks to a back 3 formation, then you probably don’t need both Mora and Mahrez. I personally would love both and resort back to a back four illustrated below.
The net spent on these players would be around $70M, much less if Mahrez isn’t needed.
Keep:
Ramsey
Ozil
Xhaka
Boss
Per
Holding
Mustafa
Ox
Welbeck
Giroud
Martinez
Cech
Iwobi
Carzola
Nacho
Bellerin
Loan out:
Chambers
Bielek
other youngsters who played well in FA Cup against Southampton.
Lacazette
Mora…Ozil….Mahrez
Xhaka…Ramsey
Nacho…Boss…Holding…Bellerin
Cech
Or
Lacazette
Mora…Ozil..
Ox….Carvalho…Xhaka…Bellerin
Nacho….Boss…Holding
Cech
Fire away!! Lol
Just get behind the club people. That’s what we should now. Anything else would be a distraction to whatever challenge or ambition we are capable of. It’s time we did our job as fans. AND STOP THE MOURNING! We get behind the team. That’s what we do!
WE ARE ARSENAL…
Carvalho is overrated decision making and ball distribution are very poor rather go for Bakayoko, Mora has pace but no end product or final pass rather get Verratti, as for Lacazette, he has pace and can find the goal but i think he would have a difficult time in the Premier League coz of his high, would rather go for Morata.
Love Veratti but he isn’t a like for like replacement for Sanchez. Mora and Mahrez are similar type players, but I agre Moras goal scoring prowess is a concern.
Carvalho impressed during Portugals EC run, but he would be last addition based on necessity.
I’ve watched a handful of Lyons games, Lacazette could be Aguerro 2.0 with Ozil, Mahrez and Mora feeding him.
JMHO
If Ramsey can come back from his I’m sure Cazorla will be back. He’s two footed, so whichever he’s having trouble with he should start relying on the other one more. Ramsey was lucky that it was his standing leg, when it’s the ball playing one I think it’s much worse. We need to plan without him as if he’s already left. Even if he can come back some time next season, he won’t play too many and it’ll prob be his last contract. We already need a bit more in that department, so he needs to get it right, I think he will bring in a quality player after seeing him spend 35 on Xhaka 35 on Mustafi.
Sell him. Arsenal won’t though, but they need to be more ruthless. He will get injured again shortly after he recovers. I love Santi, but what is the point of keeping players that are injured all year round? Arsenal supposed to be a competitive footballing club, not a rehabilitation center. And we all know Wenger will not buy a midfielder this summer and cite Cazorla’s return as “being a new signing.” We’ve been here before. We didn’t purchase a Vieria-like midfielder for the longest time because of Abou Diaby.
I feel sorry for Santi but I see this as another Rosicky situation. We might get a few minutes out of him next season, but he won’t have time to play himself into form. I hope I’m wrong. He has given Arsenal good service over the years and deserves our support.