Santi Cazorla is a fan favourite at the Emirates since coming to North London in 2012. The Spaniard has seen his position pushed back during his time at the club, with Cazorla now featuring heavily as a central midfield rather than behind the main striker. However his position on the pitch remains valuable as ever to this Arsenal team and a lot of the Gunner’s successes in recent years have been influenced heavily by our our little magician in midfield.
This is Cazorla’s fifth season with Arsenal and as a result he has seen various changes occur at the Emirates. He joined as a 27 year old Spanish international from La Liga side Malaga and has since gone on to become a regular first team player with the Gunners. The only issue is that after five years, Cazorla’s contract is nearing an end and as of this moment, Arsenal are yet to offer the midfielder a new deal.
Rumours are gathering in Italy today that Seria A giants Juventus are toying with the idea of making Arsenal’s midfield maestro Santi Cazorla an offer he will find difficult to refuse. The Italian giants are known for taking talent in the latter end of their careers and with Cazorla yet to experience playing in Italy, Juventus may be an attractive option for the player. It would come as a great disappointment to see Cazorla leave in such fashion, especially if Arsenal don’t offer the player a new deal at all. However I’m confident that the Gunners will eventually come to terms with Cazorla, as the player himself seems very keen to sign an extension with the club.
Cazorla spoke on his contractual situation last week, as he hinted at his desires to sign on the dotted line again for Arsenal. Cazorla said: “If they’ll offer me a new contract, I’ll sign it because I am very happy with this great club. I am happy here. I am trusted by the manager and my team-mates.”
In my opinion although Cazorla’s time may be edging towards the latter end of his career, he is still clearly valued at Arsenal and still manages to have a big influence on our game play. Although I understand that Wenger and co are presumably focusing on agreeing new deals for the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, we shouldn’t forget that in Santi Cazorla we have a fantastic player of many attributes, who has the desire to commit probably the final years of his career to this club.
Arsenal do still tend to enforce the one year extension policy for players over 30 years old, but there have been exceptions in the past and perhaps Arsene Wenger will choose to exercise this right before Juventus attempt to make their presence known.
By AH