If reports in today’s Guardian are to be believed, Arsenal have stepped up their pursuit of Malaga’s Santi Cazorla.
The club’s interest was first reported in the Spanish press last week, and the Guardian report suggests that not only has Cazorla told Malaga of his desire to join the Gunners, the two clubs have opened negotiations over a move.
The Spanish side are currently undergoing financial difficulties despite a very high profile Arab investment last summer and with wages remaining unpaid they could face sanctions from the Spanish league.
Cazorla, meanwhile, fits the Arsenal bill perfectly. A highly technical, creative midfielder which the club have been missing since the double departure of Fabregas and Nasri last summer.
Yet while the interest from Arsenal is very real, caution ought to be urged as we missed out on Cazorla last summer to Malaga, while attempts to sign Juan Mata from Valencia floundered despite agreements between both player and club, as well as Arsenal and Valencia.
Cazorla returned to training with Malaga yesterday, after being part of Spain’s triumphant Euro 2012 squad, and with his current club unwilling, or unable, to pay the €3.5m they owe Villarreal for his signing last summer, it means they are disallowed from making any signings until the matter is cleared up.
Whether or not that money owed would complicate an Arsenal deal remains to be seen, but fingers crossed this is one of those stories which plays out to our benefit for once!
I’m no expert in this matter, but would you say The Guardian is normally reliable by newspaper standards? I hope so.
Like any paper they’ve had their bad moments with transfer stuff, but aren’t normally like the tabloids which deal with any speculation as if it were fact.
I know for a stone cold fact there’s something going on with this transfer, fingers crossed.
Exciting. Liking stone cold facts. Not liking weepy tepid facts. Bring it on and bring him in I say
I think the €20m figure is way off the mark. Even if we are interested in the player, which I’m quite sure we are, I honestly dont see us paying €20m for a player who (a) hardly makes it on the Spanish bench, (b) we’re not facing any competition for his signature, and (c) a player who Malaga will in all probability want to get rid of.
Does he have a buyout clause in his contract?
All players in the Spanish league system have buy-out clauses, but they are usually 200%-300% of the transfer fee or whatever.
his buyout is €45m. and it’s no shame to make the Spanish bench.
Malaga have said they don’t want to sell, and i doubt we’d be facing “no competition” to sign him.
@iSayed
Mata is behind Cazorla in the peking order of the Spanish bench and he did a pretty decent job for Chelsea last year
This is great news.
But I’m sure that user who posts as Dan is crushed… After all those years watching Ganso play and everything!
they’re not like the Daily Mirror thats for sure.
I’d imagine the Guardian’s source is Sid Lowe – he writes about Spanish football for them. On twitter he’s saying that Malaga’s sheik could still turn up with a suitcase of cash so the situation remains pretty murky. What does seem to be clear is that Cazorla wants out of there.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/cazorla-arsenal-talk-rejected-123245471.html 🙁 It could all just be a ploy by Malaga so as not to appear desperate but still……. I just hope their wealthy owner remains MIA until they cannot afford to keep him any longer.
It would be great to land this one. Though I must say, he’s got that sort of pasty, facial-hair-free face that indicates one of those little shits on the school playground – Ronaldo is the classic example, but RVP also has it. And my old mate Elliot, as it happens.
Heh!! Fuck you bro, fuck you.
If you read articles about him he is adored by his club team mates and loved by his national side, “the nicest guy you can meet”- some say.They call him Ronaldinho because he is ugly, smiles a lot and is good at football, he also has a back problem that he does special stretches for (not sure of details) but if you watch him doesn’t seem to affect his game. Sounds like Cazorla would fit right in then.
Don’t read a book b y its cover Xian!
From an attacking point of view, adding Podolski, Giroud and Cazorla to our team is a very positive move. All brilliant players, and no doubt a huge addition to what we had last season. Even if/when we lose RVP, I will consider this a fantastic summer. Not to forget, we also got Bould taking charge of the defense. And the best part about Cazorla is that he can play either wing, and as an attacking mid. From what I saw on whoscored.com, he even played a few games last season as a center/defensive mid. If Wenger pulls this one off,… Read more »
Oh, and another thing, keeping Walcott is vital. I got a good feeling he can only get better. It’ll be sad to see so many years of investment go to waste.
Couldn’t agree more. With all of your statements. I can’t profess to know much about Giroud or Cazorla, but I feel like we don’t make big signings like this without doing our homework. Podolski I’ve seen because of World Cups/Euros and have been very impressed. I think we look the best we’ve been since the 07/08 season.
Agreed. Surely Giroud, Poldi and Cazorla would spread RVP’s contribution in regards to assists and goals between them, and maybe add some? In that case we won’t be so dependant on one, injury prone player. I still believe!
So do we need to finish this deal before their AWOL sugar daddy shows up with a suitcase full of cash?
Yes.
Can anyone think of a way to keep him grounded in Qatar for the next week?
Check the forecast for sandstorms!
This sure would be interesting if it happened!
We had an agreement with player and club yet still managed to fuck it up? Oh Arsene…
What is Arsene supposed to do?
Dickhead! You have no ideas what is happening between player and club but you believe everything you see in the shite media? Dickhead Cojones!
Just came in. Kos signed a new contract!
Bring him on. Oh God in heaven let this be true!!!
Another quality signing? Feck me, Le Boss means business this season. Do you hear me Robin Vain Persie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnJRAMm5E0&feature=player_embedded
No comment on CarZola, but Koscielny has extended his contract. Good news!
This guy is a great player and it would be good for OX to have a little breathing space by having him on the team.
Would effing love to have him on our team. Classy player. Take note, Van Purse(y), we will be competitive after you!!
With all these attacking players coming in, I hope we ain’t making way for walcott’s departure. Would be an excellent summer if we do hold to walcott. Rvp can fuck off.
Yeah I say we get carzola and leave that ganso guy wherever he is. Always holding ths brazilian league so high and mightier. Please!! And their sell out clauses? (hulk, damiao, oscar) Ridiculous!!, just because they are brazilians- so called gods of football.
Carzola should do.
Just a few minutes ago his wiki page mentioned his current club as Arsenal FC 🙂 He also seems to have two birthdays.
But seriously we seem to be too heavy on wingers unless he will play in the middle. He will be a step up on all the other midfielders as far as creativity is concerned. Hopefully we sign him and he comes with lot of bitter lessons about petrodollars.
Thank you. You have now made my wikipedia job much more time consuming. 🙂
I hate his face already. can we boo him on his first day?
Unlike most of the thumbs downers you got, I appreciated the satire 😉
Can we just call him CAR-ZOLA? It’s much better than CAZoRLA.
I have never heard of Carzola before this summer. How good is he?
He’s considered to be the best La Liga player outside of Madrid and Barca.
He is the Zola Car. Even Gianfranco Zola would weep.
carzola who? expect this from wenger’s next press conference
I would likened Cazorla to someone like Silva. He is not your typical winger. He can play across the midfield,brilliant with both feet,brilliant vision of the game,technically sound and can take free kicks as well.IF and that’s a big IF we can secure him, it would be the coup of the summer at the reported price of €20 million. p.s: If you are not brilliant, you will not make it into the Spanish National Team. (Twitter talk)We apparently had an agreement with him last season, but we were beaten to him by Malaga while we wait for the cash from… Read more »
No matter how unlikely this sounds … if it were to be true, just the bid would be the kind of statement Arsenal fans have been waiting for this summer. Podolski, Giroud AND €20M FOR CAZORLA. Would Malaga let him go for that? Doubtful. But if Cazorla is determined and the July 31st deadline has real relevance, then who knows. Since Cazorla is effective on both left and right it would give Wenger the options to drop AOC into midfield and/or to use Cazorla as a direct replacement (is that the right word) for Theo. Anyone who’s seen him play… Read more »
He z gud brother
Would he pass our fit test though? We only sign models now.
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Terrific player. Best news ever – if true. Much, much better signing than Ganso who with his dodgy-knee history could have been a disaster waiting to happen.
cazorla in and RVP stay.swoon
otherwise we should try very hard and land another top class striker and if it doesn’t work out we should go in for a last minute dempsey move.
Cazorla in with Wilshere and/or Arteta.
Or maybe we could just field Cazorla on his own … one against eleven.
How cool would that be?
Cazorla is much better as an AM, he can also play on the wings but in the centre he’s a monster. Amazing fk and pen taker, incredibly humble and hard-working, perfect cesc replacement, 15-16 mill good price
You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santi Cazorla’s is coming to town
Giroud
Podolski Walcott
Carzola Arteta Rosicky
Gibbs Vermaelen Koscielny Sagna
Szczesny
Bench – Ramsey,Song,Santos,Wilshere(when fit), Gervinho,Fabianski,Coquelin,Diaby(IF fit) & the rest
Looks good enough to win the title to me 😛
I wonder what kind of line up you want without the almighty Song?
who has the strength needed in midfield. you must be a joker.
Sky Sports are quoting “a source” that Malaga won’t be selling and that everything in the Malaga garden is coming up roses. Isn’t that usually like the dreaded Board’s vote of confidence in a manager two minutes before sacking him?
I blame you Arseblog…
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santi_Cazorla&action=history
Would be great to get Cazorla but having read the Guardian article, I think this is a long way from being done simply because there is no one for us to close the deal with at Malaga. The Arab owners have gone AWOL, the guy who used to run the club died and the GM (fernando Hierro) has quit. The club is in limbo. Deals dont usually get done when a business is in limbo with no management. If there was away for Cazorla to invalidate his contract and just walk(he is being owed wages), that would be cool, but… Read more »
[…] for Cazorla, we’ve been through it all in 24 hours. Some reports say we’ve agreed terms and opened negotiations with Malaga. Malaga say we haven’t even spoken to them, no deal has […]
It would be a great signing for us.
Cazorla >>>>> Ramsey
Hey guys, do you think we could include a DNA test for Santi if and when he has a medical for us? Hope he doesn’t have any “unwanted” DNA which obviously would be used by that shit team to try and unsettle him….
Sounds Interesting to me! hope it works out, i don’t want a Mata repeat this time around
Cazorla is a great player I think is a gud buy am tired of RVP speculation the guy fall my hand.