It appears Arsenal have been dealt a devastating injury blow with Spanish midfield maestro Santi Cazorla set to miss the rest of the season due to his on-going Achilles problem according to reports in the Mirror.
Cazorla has not played since the home victory over Ludogorets in October, where he limped off with an Achilles injury, and despite Arsenal’s medical team hoping to resolve the issue without requiring surgery, a decision was taken in December to operate that ruled Cazorla out for an additional three months.
In what comes as utterly disappointingly bad news for the Gunners, who have sorely missed the calming influence the midfielder brings to the North London club.
As of the 1st December 2016, over the period back to the start of the 2014/15 season, Arsenal had won 65.5% of their games in which Cazorla had started. Without Cazorla, their win percentage dropped significantly to just 38.9%(as per Who Scored).
Wenger was hoping that the Spaniard will be fit for the final weeks of the season, however, the plan will now be to focus on getting him ready for the start of next season.
Cazorla’s ankle has proven more troublesome than the Emirates club could have imagined, and the 32-year-old has now undergone several procedures to fix the problem.
The delay in his recovery means that a return this season is now out of the equation, and the focus will now be on the start of next season. That will make him out of competitive action for a period of 10 months by the time the next season kicks in.
The Mirror further reports that there is no chance of Cazorla leaving this summer after the club activated an automatic one-year extension to his contract.
Even though the Spanish midfield engine is now 32, he is still an instrumental figure in the Arsenal first team. His vision, his creativity, his distribution are key components to the passing-orientated midfield of Wenger’s system.
Replacing him may seem a little ruthless, but there are now major questions to be asked, both in the club’s present and regarding the player’s future.
Let’s just hope we’ve finally gotten rid of his persistent injury problem and he’s able to enjoy an injury-free campaign next year as we’re a totally different team with our Spanish maestro pulling the strings in the midfield.
