Football is a team game, of course, so no one player can bring success to a team on their own, just ask Argentina who have failed to claim a single piece of silverware despite having arguably the best player the game has ever seen in Lionel Messi.
So if Arsenal are going to end our long wait for another Premier League title it will require a lot of things to be right. Having said that, better players tend to make a batter team and some can be more important than others, especially if they bring balance to a side and make it complete in a way that no other player in the squad can.
That is why I feel that the loss of our midfield magician Santi Cazorla to a long term injury has had a devastating effect on our chances of success this time. There are other factors, of course, but once we lost Santi things went downhill fast.
It did not help that we had let Jack Wilshere leave on a season long loan deal or that Granit Xhaka did not hit the ground running or that Aaron Ramsey has been way below his best if he was fit. However, I still feel that none of the other midfielders in the Arsenal squad bring the same as Cazorla. If you don’t believe me check out what the young Gunner Jeff Reine-Adelaide told Arsenal.com when asked who our best player is.
Adelaide said, “I look up to them all. If I had to name one, it would have to be Santi Cazorla.
“He has superb natural ability, he can play with either foot, he can do anything. I think he’s a magician!
“When you watch him play, you can sense he is really serene because he knows exactly what he is doing. Whatever the situation, he will win the ball cleanly.
“I try to be like that so I can play like him.”
He makes the team tick and also makes the players around him better. At 32-years old now the Spaniard has not got too many years at the top level left but he has got some and so next year we really need him to be fit and injury free. Mustafi and Koscielny are a very strong centre back pairing and if Ozil and Alexis stay we have great creativity and cutting edge.
Arsene Wenger will also be looking at the transfer market to add quality, but for me the most important player and the potential key to the title for Arsenal is Cazorla. Do you agree?
Bob.