One would be out of place to say that Spanish international Santi Cazorla is the player of the last decade at Arsenal despite the several injuries that marred the last days of his career with the Premier League club.
Arsenal signed Santi Cazorla from Malaga in 2012 having made his name with the Yellow Submarines Villarreal in Spain.
Cazorla left Villarreal for Malaga where he spent just one season.
The 35-year-old signed for Arsenal from Malaga in a £10m deal.
He started his Arsenal career as a playmaker on the wings (either left or right) before his role in the team changed to a deep-lying playmaker as the Spaniard forged a very good midfield partnership with Francis Coquelin.
His best performance in an Arsenal shirt came during the 2-0 away win over then Premier League champions Manchester City in January 2015.
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Santi Cazorla scored the opening goal of that game from the penalty spot as he produced a man-of-the-match performance to lead the Gunners to three valuable points.
He also provided the assist for the second goal scored by Olivier Giroud.
Arsenal have not won an away fixture against any of the other top-six teams in the Premier League since that day.
Santi Cazorla was in sensational form for Arsenal in central midfield alongside Francis Coquelin until the opening weeks of the 2016/17 season when his injury woes started.
He was released at the end of his Arsenal contract in the summer of 2018 and the Spaniard went on to re-sign for Villarreal.
Santi Cazorla spent almost two years on the treatment table as he lost hope of playing football again before he made the decision to continue working hard to return to full fitness.
He has also been recalled into the Spanish national team whom he won two European Championships within 2008 and 2012.
Cazorla won two FA Cup titles during his time at Arsenal.
