A Love Letter to Santi Cazorla
Santi Cazorla: A footballer to be remembered and revered for all the right reasons
Dylan Walsh laces up for his first start for the Sporting Blog First team with an emotional and heartfelt piece about Santi Cazorla, the little magician who came back from the brink, to the very top of the game.
Football is a game that can spark a thousand emotions. From the joy and adulation to your team winning silverware to the despair and heartbreak from being relegated on the final day of the season with the last kick of the match.
22 men kicking around a ball of leather produces everything on the emotional spectrum to us lovers of the beautiful game, and to those who watched Santi Cazorla, sheer unadulterated joy is what was felt to all of those who watched the little Spanish magician light up the football pitch where ever he went.
Cazorla is one of the true cult heroes of the 21st Century game who marvelled fans in midfield as well as came back from a near career-ending injury to return to his best after doctors feared he would never kick a ball again, and in this piece, we delve into the story of one of modern football’s most beloved figures, and how his talent and wizardry left us all in awe.
From goals in an FA Cup final to being called up by Spain at the age of 35, this is a tribute, but more a love letter of sorts, to Cazorla, the man who played with a smile on his face, and brought joys to those who loved him.
Cazorla - The Breakthrough
Like many good stories, the beginning is the best place to start.
Born in the Asturias region of northern Spain, it always seemed like young Santi was destined to become a footballer, and after impressing at local club Real Oviedo during his teenage years, Cazorla was sold to La Liga giants Villarreal as financial relief for his struggling hometown club.
With Argentine great Juan Roman Riquelme plying his trade for el Submarino Amarillos at the same time as Cazorla’s move, first-team appearances were always going to be hard to come by for the midfielder, and after three years and 75 appearances later, the majority of which were off the bench, the playmaker was signed by Recreativo de Huelva in the summer of 2006 after their promotion to La Liga.
Although Cazorla was born in Asturias, it is the southern region of Andalusia where football fans first started to fall in love with the nimble midfielder as the two-footed magician was named Spanish Player of the Year by Don Balon in his only season with Recreativo, and in the following campaign with Villarreal after returning to the club, the Spaniard exploded into life.
Six goals and 10 assists in all competitions guided Villarreal to second in the 2007/08 La Liga season as well as booked his ticket to the 2008 EUROs, Cazorla’s first-ever international call-up as Spain went on to beat Germany in the final to claim their first of what was to be three pieces of major silverware on the world stage over the span of four years, including the World Cup in 2010.
A successful season with Malaga in the 2011/12 season which saw Cazorla claim eight goals and 13 assists in 41 games caught the attention of Arsenal, and little did the north London side know that this little magician from norther Spain was about the play a massive part in the club’s modern history.
Cazorla - The Arsenal Years
With 29 goals and 45 assists in 180 games for the Gunners, it might seem hard for an outsider looking in as to why Cazorla is much beloved in the red half of north London, but dig a little deeper and you’ll discover that his technique and big game attitude were massive factors as to why the little Spaniard remains an icon with Arsenal.
Every Arsenal supporter has a Cazorla memory that they can remember like it was yesterday. From the time he made Anfield his playground in only his third appearance for the club to pulling the Gunners back into the 2014 FA Cup final with an outrageous free-kick from 30-yards out to his Man of the Match performance against Manchester City in one of Arsenal’s best results in modern Premier League history, the 2012 summer signing from Malaga was an instant fan favourite at the Emirates.
Although Cazorla was signed to play in the number 10 role behind new striker Olivier Giroud, it was his evolution to a deep-lying playmaker during the 2014/15 season that catapulted the nimble midfielder into the hearts of Arsenal fans, and alongside Francis Coquelin, the duo solidified one of the most complete midfield parings the club had seen in many a year, and one that is still yet to be as reliable and effective as the good cop/bad cop.
His new role would set the tempo for the remaining years of his career, but disaster halted Cazorla’s path into becoming a legend for Arsenal.
An Achilles tendon injury picked up in a Champions League game in October 2016 would lead to eight separate surgeries, one of which involved taking skin from his forearm to patch up his ankle, as well as doctors telling Cazorla that he would be lucky to walk again and that there was a real risk he would have to lose his leg due to infection, and most importantly to our story, he had nearly two years of no football.
The game was in mourning, and when it was announced Arsenal weren’t going to renew Cazorla’s contract at the end of the 2017/18 season, it looked like his career was over. But football has its funning ways of working, and after returning to Villarreal to train with the club he had called home before, he was offered the chance to return to the pitch for the La Liga side, and the midfielder did so and some.
Cazorla - The Homecoming
After two years with no football and enough botched surgeries to make many people want to give up on sports altogether, expectations were low for Cazorla’s return to Villarreal. His unveiling at the Estadio de la Ceramica quite literally saw the Spaniard appear out of thin air as a magician magically brought the former Arsenal man onto the pitch via some smoke and a capsule.
Despite nearly two years of no football, Cazorla was immediately thrown back into the frame, starting the season opener against Real Sociedad on the August 18th 2018, over 600 days since his last time on a football pitch, yet despite that time and the extent of his injury, it was the beginning of something beautiful.
The now 34-year-old Cazorla was an artist on the pitch for Villarreal, reminiscent of his best days at Arsenal where every touch was as soft as silk and his close control would bamboozle even the most intelligent and sturdiest of opponents.
Cazorla was back, and playing some of the best football of his career. By the end of the season, the little magician had played 46 games for Villarreal, scoring seven and assisting 11. He went one better the following season, making just the 40 appearances this time, but hitting 15 goals and creating another 11, and surpassing Riquleme’s record as the highest-scoring midfielder in the club’s history.
The comeback was complete, and to cap things off, Cazorla was recalled to the Spanish national team for the first time in nearly four years in the summer of 2019, even taking the armband in the second-half in Spain’s 4-1 win over the Faroe Islands.
Cazorla’s career has seen the Spaniard experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but one thing remains constant with the kid with a dream from Asturias, that he put a smile on everyone’s face whenever he touched the football pitch, and that his ability with a ball brought those who loved him to stand in applause in a story that will be remembered for generations to come.
