Santi Cazorla

Santiago Cazorla González
Born 13 December 1984 (27) in Llanera, Spain
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Winger

Born in Llaneras, Asturia, Cazorla developed a passion for football and began playing for local club Real Oviedo. After noticing his advanced skills, he was signed by Villarreal, just before his 18th birthday. Initially, a reserve player, he rose through the ranks and earned himself a spot in the first team, making his debut in 2003 and shortly thereafter fixating himself in the squad. He failed to impress, however in 2006, with a goalless season dragging down his value and form. He was subsequently sold to Recreativo de Huelva with Villarreal inserting a €1.2 million buy-back clause in case Cazorla recaptured his form and proved himself once more. He did just that, scoring 5 goals and assisting 6 in 32 appearances for Recreativo de Huelva fighting through the season, not only for the future of his career, but also, to overcome the grief of losing his father that year. Villarreal, seemingly impressed, re-signed him the following year.


Cazorla proved invaluable to the Yellow Submarines, boosting them to a 2nd place finish in La Liga, boasting 6 goals and 6 assists. His spectacular form led to a national call-up for Euro 2008 which gave Cazorla his first taste of silverware in a Spain shirt.

In the summer of 2008, Cazorla revealed that Real Madrid had attempted to convince him to join them, however he refused stating:

"There are many things in football besides Real Madrid. It’s clear that it’s possible to say “no” to them; there’s no doubt that they are a great team, but I also feel very satisfied and valued at my club. I hope that I can continue growing at Villarreal because I’m young, and I’m only starting off with the National team.”

He would go on to score 9 goals and rack up 5 assists the following year with Villarreal. Injury meant his exclusion from the 2010 World Cup, however, his exploits in Spain's domestic league would continue the following year. He continued to build his reputation as one of the most confident, consistent, versatile midfielders in La Liga, eventually drawing the attention of then-rich Malaga CF. Cazorla wished to stay with his boyhood team, however, an increasing amount of debt forced Villarreal to sell Cazorla to Malaga. They snapped him up for €21m in the summer of 2011 with Santi reluctantly signing, deeply saddened that the prospect of joining Arsenal had passed.


After yet another season of superb play, winning the Euro 2012 with Spain and yet another club of his facing financial crisis, Malaga were forced to sell Cazorla to Arsenal, the greatest club on Earth for their record fee of *insert reported number here* Arsenal were delighted to sign the invaluable talent, not only to add considerable depth to their team, making them contenders, but also to make their Fleeing Doucheman captain look like an ass.


Style of play:
Cazorla is renowned for his genuine versatility as he can play anywhere in advanced positions. Although naturally a right winger, he has the passing range and quick feet to play centrally or on the left due to his ambidexterity. He is extremely quick off the ball and very unpredictable, very enjoyable to watch when he's on full throttle.

He is a dead ball specialist, scoring four free kicks last season, known for shooting them under the wall as the opposing players jump or simply curving the ball around them. He is also a deadly distance shooter with his precise aim claiming a few scalps like a Luis Suarez-like long distance shot that turned a few heads last season. He simply has it all, a quick turn of pace, deadly passing ability, smooth Spanish ball control, a consistent, confident swagger, a fantastic player all round.


Goals and Skills:

Spoiler:

Statistics:

[ Too lazy to copy them lol ]





Final Thoughts:

A great signing. A very very very good price for the best talent in La Liga outside of Barcelona and Real Madrid. He'll give us great depth and create selection headaches for Wenger that I'm sure he gladly welcomes after last year's injury crisis. However, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, he's only a man and will be prone to some mistakes as well as adjustment time. While I think he'll find our playing style perfect for him and he'll adapt smoothly, we shouldn't crown him the messiah to single-handedly end our trophy drought while putting RVP in a full nelson forcing him to sign a contract. He's a great player, sure, but he's only one player and it's a team effort. He will make mistakes, and he will shine.

I admit I don't really watch much La Liga.. but was it really a safe bet to say he was the best talent in the league that didn't play for the Barca and Madrid?? If so that is really great to hear.. I mean I remember Aguero being considered something of that sort and he was incredible for City. If he can be for us what he was for City next season will be fantastic : D

Great work MJ

excellent work MJ...
Villareal was in debt...
Malaga too in debt...
now us ? i am scared..

Thanks guys I had some extra time on my hands last night and no one had done a full profile on him so I decided to do a comprehensive one anyone on GL can refer to.

Great job MJ.

Well done MJ

i have a feeling Santi and theo are gonna have a good partnership, with alot of through balls from Santi to Theo to run behind defenses.

Legend wrote:i have a feeling Santi and theo are gonna have a good partnership, with alot of through balls from Santi to Theo to run behind defenses.

I had the same feeling while watching this: http://player.arsenal.com/adverts/video/lightbox?videoid=2348

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Fantastic read MJ.

First of all, awesome work MJ. I'm fairly confident that he'll succeed.
The fact that he's the smallest in the 1st team doesn't concern me.

He looks bulky and has got great shielding of the ball and all that talk about EPL physicality is a load of bull anyway.

Thank you everyone


@ Rev

Yeah I'm not too worried about his size affecting him because since he's been playing in La Liga and the best national team in the last 5 years then surely if he didn't have the physical dimension to his game he wouldn't have made it.

WAS BOSSING THE MIDFIELD

GUYS CAN'T WIAT, WE WOULD BE CHAMPS

aleumdance wrote:WAS BOSSING THE MIDFIELD

GUYS CAN'T WIAT, WE WOULD BE CHAMPS

I'm very excited too. He was pure class but maybe a bit of a stretch with the last bit?

Mate, I still believe we can make it

super optimistic..

I think we can win any of the four trophies we're after also, I'm very excited about this year and want to see Wenger add another honor to his name because after the miracles he's worked this window, he deserves it.

I remember a forum member called Usmanov who wanted us to make the exact signings we have made over the course of these past two months.

AnJl wrote:I remember a forum member called Usmanov who wanted us to make the exact signings we have made over the course of these past two months.

I remember a forum member called Usmanov being a complete tool to everyone because they had different opinions and shunning himself from the forums lol.

Just a thought, putting Santi Cazorla in Arsenal terms. Cazorla is a bit like Arshavin in the sense that he's small, very technically gifted, and also (IMO) extremely likeable. But where Arshavin relies on good form & inspiration, and is therefore a player who only performs in fits & bursts (at least for the Arsenal), Cazorla appears to be very reliable, very consistent. I'm only a casual La Liga viewer, no expert at all, but people who know his performances in Spain better than I do seem to reinforce this characterization. And so whereas Arshavin's unhurriedness can quickly appear to devolve into laziness and lack of concentration, Cazorla just looks comfortable when he's on the ball. He's calming rather than can't-be-bothered. And he showed this against Koln today. I think that's part of what makes him such an impressive capture - he's like Arshavin + Arteta, for under £16 million.

Arteta + Arshavin is a great way of putting it

I envy you guys!
Cazorla is such a beast. And I will be tuning into the BPL a bit more now just to see how he does in the season.


I don't care who wins the bpl but I hope he does well for you guys (which I'm sure he will)

thanks

Think he will be the most fouled player in our team

gunnerlistick wrote:Think he will be the most fouled player in our team

That is if the other team can catch him

anyone else noticed how good he gelled with Coquelin..


at a point Koln players could not catch our mids