It was over the moment they confirmed he was out very long term. Cant see him recovering for the rigours of this league at his age.
The least we can do is get him up and running again and see him off. Such a shame. Such a majestic player.
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One of Wenger’s best buys.
What a sad way for Santi to finish his career.
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It’s still weird to think back to when we signed him from Malaga when they were in financial trouble. What a signing this man has been for us.
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Santi’s Arsenal career has been a story of two halves, the delightful first 3 seasons and then 3 seasons in a rehab room.
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Amazing.
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Such a shame. So unnecessarily poorly managed by Wenger.
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Also the rigours of the league, players like Rosicky and Cazorla may not have ended up with such physical wear and tear if they’d spent the equivalent time in Italy
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It became clear what an important player Cazorla was, when he missed last season and our performances saw us drop out of the top four.
But as great as he clearly is, Wenger must surely have learned from hanging on to players like Diaby, Rosicky, Wilshere etc, that it’s detrimental to the team to rely on key players that are constantly injured.
Wenger should be looking to replace him anyway so now would be the perfect opportunity.
It’s a key position, and Cazorla’s absence was a key factor in our poor season, so there’s no excuse to not buy a replacement.
Career over, then.
James Olley or whatever his name just tweeted they’re rumours are false
You know what if we get 15 games out of him next season, we still get more value out of him that we do half of our squad. World class on his day, our best player, get well soon Santi.
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The first set back was denied also.
Our beat player? 
On what basis?
On the basis of him being better than all the rest of our players
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I wholeheartedly agree with this.
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But what happened, i swear it was like yesterday or a few days ago that he was in the gym looking happy…our midfielders are made of glass. This will be wilshere in a few years we should sell the guy whilst we can get a few quid for him.
@arsenescoatmaker: Eh Cazorla although being great for us is not our best player, saying that is case of a player getting better with each game they don’t play or perhaps sentimental revisionism.
Make no mistake though he’s been decisive for us since he joined and became an integral part of the squad with his absence being sorely felt. If this is true it’s a damn shame it ends like this, niggling injuries after 30 can be the kiss of death.
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It’s more to do with us getting categorical worse with every game without him. One minute we’re smashing Chelsea 3-0 at home, next Cazorla’s injured and we look like we’re relegation fodder.
He’s makes us tick and being the only player who can do that I think it’s fair to suggest at the very least he’s our most important player.
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When you’ve only got one player that did what Cazorla could do of course that’s going to be the case, we’ve known he’s susceptible to injury for how long now and still no like for like replacement.
IMO it more highlights the lack of depth and foresight from Wenger as much as it highlights Santi’s importance if not more so.
Can’t agree with him being our most important player either tbh one of sure but not #1 which is hard to quantify anyway since you take Özil or Sanchez out of the team and we’d look all at sea for varying reasons.
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Santi is a very unique player, few players in the world have his skillset. I always prefered him at no10 to Ozil, I think he’s a more incisive player than Ozil and he got shifted out of position after Ozil’s arrival. Pushed out to the left wing and then to DLP.
After he got injured everyone appreciated what a good job he was doing. But when he was a midfield controller, keeping possession, dribbling through the opposition when pressed, spreading play and creating from deep everyone complained. I didn’t.
Despite playing as a DLP in 15/16 before his injury he’d created the second most chances in the league, second only to Ozil who played further up the pitch. His range of passing, his accuracy and decision making is second to none as is his technique.
Ironically he’d probably be even better in the 3-4-3 with 3 centre backs covering him.
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