We mentioned earlier that Marca had an exclusive interview with Santi Cazorla in which the Spaniard reflected on his injury situation. The quotes have finally landed and they make for tough reading, especially coming from someone who is known to be such an upbeat presence in the Arsenal dressing room.
Honestly, it sounds like he’s been to hell and back after eight operations. Amazingly, he remains upbeat about the prospect of a return to action even though he was warned at one point that his foot might have to be amputated.
“It feels like I’m getting everything off my chest by talking about what I’ve been through,” he reflects.
“It’s not been a simple injury as people thought. Nobody believed in me but I did and I still do, although I’m cautious because of the pain.”
Giving context to the emotional roller coaster he’s been on, he also touched on the medical diagnosis he received when the infection in his Achilles was at its worst.
“If you are able to walk with your son again in the garden, be satisfied, I was told [by the doctor].
“He noted that I had a terrible infection, that I had damaged part of the calcaneus bone which ate into the Achilles tendon, there was eight centimetres missing.
“My family still live in London because my children are in school there but I am here alone in Salamanca…and it’s very tough.
“The other day a woman told me I was the double of Cazorla…when I explained that it actually was me, she just laughed!
“Most days I receive messages from club and international teammates, like Iniesta, Silva, David Villa…
“I’m still cautious because of the pain and the tough times but I still trust in myself but you have to bare in mind this injury has never been as straightforward as many thought.
“I am aiming to return in January, it keeps me motivated.”
Marca carry some rather gruesome images of the scar tissue on Santi’s ankle, including a skin graft from his arm that includes half a tattoo.
“I don’t know how to fix my arm tattoo now but maybe I’ll leave it like that because it’s got more meaning now than ever,” he concluded.
There’s not much more we can do but wish Santi all the best with his recovery. His current Arsenal contract comes to an end next summer; here’s hoping we can see him in action before then.
All the best Santi.
Awful, awful thing to happen to him
Its amazing that this guy can have such a cheerful smile after what he has gone through. Respect.
Give over will ya. There are kids in Africa that have bigger smiles for receiving simple things like a toothbrush, Santiago is a multi millionaire who couldn’t play football for a year.
FUCK OFF you TROLL!!!
(Sorry blogs)
Because he’s class through and through. Here’s hoping we get a fit and cheerful Santi back sooner rather than later. Would be a great lift to the whole squad, and to us fans!
All the best for a swift recovery. Such a shame, seems like a genuinely lovely guy in addition to his brilliance on the pitch. His performance in the 2-0 win over city at the etihad was my favourite individual performance since the days of the invincible.
That one sequence where he made a crunching tackle outside the box, ghosted past one player, then did a roulette past another, then completed a pass is one of my favorite moments of the past few years. It’s funny, he and Coq were both absolutely superb that game. Cazorla getting stuck in and dictating play, Coq flying around with inch perfect tackles. That might’ve been the last time our midfield was that solid.
The biggest compliment I can give to this beautiful soul is no matter what competition he had, he always ended up a guaranteed starter. We signed him the year we lost RVCunt, and he was our player of the season as a natural number 10. That summer we signed Ozil, a specialist number 10. Santi was pushed to the left wing, and even without his lack of pace he still performed superbly. That summer we sign Alexis Sanchez, a left winger. Poor old santi was pushed into DM, and made a shit player like coquelin look like Kante. That game… Read more »
It would be amazing if the guys going to the game on Sunday sang his name on the 19th minute.
Awful, awful thing to happen to Arsenal, he is such a great player.
You’re not wrong, but reading what’s happened to the man I couldn’t care less about what it means for arsenal right now.
Sorry, I’ll just type the same thing as everyone else then rather than develop the first post above.
Gawd!!! Wrap your head around the man, not the club!
Sorry, I obviously contradicted everyone else.
Yeah because you’re an idiot unlike everyone else. The man had to go through the stress of potentially having his foot amputated!
We miss him badly. Not had much luck with our midfield maestro’s – Rosicky!!
Good luck Santi, everybody at the club will be hoping for your return in January.
On a side note, why do the nice, super talented guys at our club always get bad injuries? Rosicky, Diaby Cazorla… why couldn’t it have happened to Adebayor or Nasri instead! Lol!
Adebayor couldn’t get injured because he was always offside.
Maybe getting injured automatically makes us think they are nice guys? Not true of Santi or rosicky, but just an idea.
Or Walcott?
We have lost many brilliant talents through mystery injuries. Santi, Vermaelen, Rosicky, not to mention the not so mysterious ones like Diaby and Jack. All the best Santi, hope you manage to play again one day! Love that guy!
All the best Santi , brilliance on the ball was a pleasure to watch ??
It will be a very happy day if and when we see Santi in an Arsenal shirt again. I believe he has been a very important player both on and off the pitch, wonderful to watch, hugely underrated outside of our club.
Good luck Santi!
Personally I’d be elated to see him playing for anyone again.
Jesus, 8cm of tendon missing. That’s horrific. Poor guy. Awful thing for anyone so young to have to comtemplate.
Never normally comment but just needed to say how much I love this guy. Top man on and off the pitch. Hope he makes full recovery soon.
Get well soon Santi – can’t wait to see you back!
Poor Santi, it made me cry reading this. All I can say is that I’m so glad the club did the decent thing and renewed his contract, even though they knew he wasn’t going to play for a long time. Hopefully he can make it back, for his sake more than anything. I’d love to see him lifting a couple of trophies with us at the end of the season.
Terrible news and have to feel very bad for Santi.
Going back to the injury, one has to feel nothing else but fury at Wenger decision-making
Remember that as Xhaka was banned after getting a red card vs. Swansea, he was supposed to miss 3 PL games, but could still play vs. Ludogorets.
Wenger didn’t include Xhaka at all in team and instead played Santi again in this easy game (we ended up winning 6-0).
But Santi’s injury was caused by one rather clumsy tackle by a Ludo player.
You are wrong, my friend. These things happen in football and you can’t blame anyone, just wish santi a speedy recovery and all the best. In my eyes, he’s an arsenal legend.
Without santi’s brilliant piece of magic in the FA Cup final 2014, we probably would have lost that game, meaning we don’t break that trophy duck. God knows where arsenal would be right now without that trophy.
awful to happent to one of the most loved players in arsenal history if not the most.
imagine the scenes when he comes back playing in 2nd part os season scores a goal and shows his arm where they took his skin out.
I hope one day he will play under our shirts again and score a goal, so everybody has to queue and kiss his ankle. Best recovery, Santi!
Miss you so much, stay strong. Get better and hopefully one day we’ll be graced again to see you in Arsenal shirt.
Santi, hope you get completelyi well soon. Love you.
Everyone who will be at the Eithad, can we have a oooooooohh santi cazorlaaaa at 19 minutes please
My God what has that poor guy been through. Get well soon Santi and really hope we see you on a pitch again soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0fMmN0kSAE
It’s in spanish but who wouldn’t want to watch Santi smile?
19th minute at home games – make some noise for Santi. Let him know we are supporting him and he’s not forgotten.
He should have gone to the US to see Dr. James Andrews a year ago.
Horrible bad luck, for such a nice guy. Fingers crossed ?
I remember the day I fell in love with him, as he displayed his wonderful array of football genius.
I await your return Santi, no matter how long it takes.
As a medical professional, the graft looks very neat. He had a skilled surgeon. Come back soon Santi, and may you play some big games yet at the Emirates.
Crazy stuff! So why on earth Arsenal allowed for his injury to get so bad? Are the doctors here the UK so bad? In the Evening Standard article he ended up with three different infections, how the hell did the Arsenal medical team and the rest allowed to happen? Is it Santi’s incompetence or is the club at fault here?
I kept playing, they told me I was fine. The problem is that it did not heal and the wounds reopened, they became infected
*coughprofessionalnegligencesuitcomingcough*
No one’s at fault. It’s an infection.
Arsenal should be applauded for giving Santi a contract extension despite knowing his condition so that the little magician could get on with his rehab and life without worrying about the financials. I’m sure Arsene pushed the board for this knowing full well that Santi might not be able to play for us again. Having the contract extended also gives Santi a bit of light at the end of the tunnel with something to aim for. He’s got a club that supports him. Doesn’t have to post up you tube videos to prove his fitness. Hope we see him again… Read more »
If I wasn’t so skint I’d get a Cazorla home shirt. Love the guy and hope he returns and can live as normal a life as possible.
This guy is the glue, the heart and the brain of this team…We were flying high playing fantastic football and we are still yet to fully recover since hes been gone
Oh how I miss you Santi. By far our best misfielder post Fabregas days. Absolutely no doubt we wouldn’t have been so shite last year with him in the side.
We wish you all the best Santi, we miss you and looking forward to see you soon fit as never before..the midfield have being Incomplete since you got injured.come back soon Santo?✔
Get well soon Santi, we all miss you. Best of luck. COYG!
As if we didn’t know that this was going on. Absolutely love Santi, first man on the team for me when fit. Really hope we get to see him play again
This is not really news and it shouldn’t be to most of you, except for the fact thht Blogs and others always alluded to his injury and operations as though they were of the regular sort. Santi told media about the infection long ago. Only thing new is the picture and the update on his progress.
All the best Santi
One of the best players sporting director Arsene has ever signed for us.
Superbly gifted. Young players would do well to emulate his ability with BOTH feet.
We have truly missed him in midfield for 3 seasons now and we’ve. Only partially replicated his ability with Granit.
Personally my favorite player.