Santi Cazorla has signed a one-year contract with Villarreal with the option to extend by a further season, it has been confirmed.
The 33-year-old has suffered a number of injury problems and was released by Arsenal at the end of last season, before earning a trial at Villarreal.
Cazorla has played for seven seasons across two spells at the Yellow Submarine whilst also playing for Recreativo de Huelva and Malaga.
The former Gunners playmaker made his first appearance in 636 days last month following his last outing in October 2016, after a serious of ankle injury problems.
“I feel like a footballer again, it’s really special,” Cazorla told Villarreal club media, after the outing.
“It has been a really promising few months and the help from everyone during that time will remain with me for the rest of my life, and many have given me the strength to carry through.
“Coming on in a match was almost unthinkable 20 months ago and now I just want to find the rhythm to play football regularly as it is what I love.”
Cazorla had to undergo eight operations while he previously explained that doctors had told him he would be lucky to walk again. Cazorla began his professional career at Villarreal in 2003 after impressing as a youngster with his hometown club, Real Oviedo. He continued his development at Villarreal before a short spell at partner club, Recreativo de Huelva. After becoming the club’s standout player in the 2006–07 La Liga season, contributing to their top-ten finish and being awarded Spanish Footballer of the Year, Cazorla returned to Villarreal for €1.2 million the following season. He then firmly established himself as a key contributor to the side, regularly being named in the La Liga Team of the Season.
In 2011, following five fruitful seasons on the Spanish coast, he moved to fellow La Liga side Málaga in a club-record €21 million deal, where he gained a reputation for his speed, shooting accuracy, capacity to change the rhythm of gameplay, and excellent close control.
Cazorla was selected by Vicente del Bosque for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. He played ten minutes against Republic of Ireland (4–0 group stage win) and six against France (2–0, quarterfinals) for the eventual champions.
Cazorla was named in Spain’s 30-man provisional squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and was also included in the final list for the competition.
On 19 June, he made his debut in the tournament by coming on for the last 14 minutes in place of Pedro against Chile at the Maracanã in the second group game. Spain lost 2–0 and were eliminated. He started the dead rubber third match, a victory over Australia.
On 9 October 2015, Cazorla scored twice in a 4–0 win over Luxembourg at the Estadio Las Gaunas in Logroño, a result which sent Spain to Euro 2016. He played and scored in a friendly victory over England the following month, but was not selected for the Euro 2016 finals squad having just come back from injury,and did not feature for his country in 2016 or 2017 due to further long-term injury problems