Santi Cazorla Says He Wants to 'Say Goodbye Properly' to Arsenal

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Santi Cazorla won’t feel his career is complete unless he gets the chance to bid farewell to Arsenal the right way. Cazorla left the Gunners in 2018 and joined Villarreal on a free transfer, ending an injury nightmare in north London but also leaving the playmaker with a bitter taste. 

Cazorla spelled out his regrets during an interview with BBC Sport’s Tom Rostance: 

“It was frustrating to not be able to say goodbye to a club who treated me so well. It is something left in my career to say goodbye properly. I am eternally grateful to the club and the fans for the way they continue to treat me.”

Returning to La Liga has provided a fillip to the winter of Cazorla’s career. The 35-year-old has thrived during a second spell with the Yellow Submarine, playing his way back into the Spain national team in the process.

Now Cazorla wants a place with La Roja for this summer’s UEFA Euro 2020. Participating at the tournament would be “the best way to say goodbye to the national team.”

Saying goodbye is a recurring theme with Cazorla, who is enjoying a swan-song to his playing days he likely never thought he’d get. Things looked bleak when the diminutive maestro left a UEFA Champions League group game against Ludogorets with an ankle problem back in October 2016.

The injury turned out to be worse than first feared, and this ultimately became Cazorla’s last appearance in an Arsenal shirt. A bacterial infection incurred during surgery put Cazorla’s foot at risk, but treatment in Spain eventually saved both the limb and his career.

Cazorla rebounded, but it’s debatable if Arsenal have ever fully recovered from losing the creative heartbeat of the team. Playing in a deeper role behind roving No. 10 Mesut Ozil and versatile forward Alexis Sanchez, Cazorla kept things ticking over in possession for the Gunners.

He had already helped Arsenal win two FA Cups and become one of the best signings from the latter days of Arsene Wenger’s time in charge after arriving from Malaga at a cost of less than £15 million in 2012.

Wenger’s team was second in the Premier League and level on points with leaders Manchester City when Cazorla went down. Without the metronome in midfield, the Gunners finished fifth, ending a two-decade stint in the UEFA Champions League.

Cazorla missed the following season, Wenger’s last, where Arsenal finished sixth and again missed out on the Champions League, a tournament the club is still struggling to re-enter.

Villarreal have a similar aim, with the squad sixth and two points off the top four. Cazorla’s eight goals and five assists have been a big part of Villarreal’s European push.

While Cazorla is focused on the Yellow Submarine, he is also keeping an eye on Arsenal, particularly on how former midfield team-mate Mikel Arteta is faring in the dugout.

Arteta has lost just one of 10 games in all competitions since taking charge on December 26. Cazorla talked up his potential to restore the Gunners to former glories, telling Rostance: “He was always a leader in the dressing room. It was the right decision to put him in as manager.”

Reuniting Arteta and Cazorla as part of the latter’s farewell tour with Arsenal is something the club can make happen. Football.London’s Tashan Deniran-Alleyne and James Benge noted how head of football Raul Sanllehi is ready to talk to Cazorla’s agent about a possible, although yet unspecified, return.

It would be a fitting way to thank one of the most popular and gifted players of Arsenal’s modern era, a talent whose injury woes were as big a factor as any in the club’s recent decline from Champions League regular to begrudging UEFA Europa League participant.

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