Former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla ends two-year exile and makes return to first-team football with Villarreal after career-threatening injuries decimated Gunners career. The former Gunners midfielder, now 33, is in his third stint with the Yellow Submarine after nearly three years of nightmares with knee and Achilles problems that required EIGHT bouts of surgery
But the North London faithful have long been thinking ‘what if’ after he suffered a knee injury in 2015 in a clash with Norwich, before injuring his Achilles Tendon in October 2016, that required EIGHT operations. The injury continued to get worse and the area later contracted gangrene, meaning it began eating that part of the tendon, in a worrying turn of events for the player. Unfortunately for Arsenal, he would never be the same player for them again and Arsene Wenger granted Cazorla permission to continue his recovery in Salamanca.
His return has been put back and put back, but Cazorla has continued his slow comeback and the Gunners decided not to renew his contract, that expired at the end of last season. So former club Villarreal stepped in and offered him the chance to win a deal, and after playing in a pre-season friendly with Hercules.
The former Malaga and Recreativo Huelva man posted a picture of himself in action on Instagram.
The caption said: “Very happy to get back to do what I like most. There is a lot of work ahead for me but it is the first step, eternally grateful to the people for the care, it has been worth it to get here, THANK YOU.”
Cazorla will continue his rehab work at the La Liga club and could feature in their pre-season fixtures against Marseille, Montpellier, Sheffield Wednesday and Wolves before their regular season starts.