Arsene Wenger is still hopeful that Santi Cazorla will return to the Arsenal team in 2018 as the Spanish midfielder embarked on his first running session today.

Cazorla has not played for 11 months and has undergone a series of procedures on his right ankle from which he has struggled to recover. Cazorla, once such an important player for Arsenal, has been left out of the Europa League group stage squad, a sign that Wenger has no faith in him getting fit before Christmas.

But Wenger struck a more positive note today, saying that Cazorla was on his way back to training and should be ready later this season. “Santi is having his first run today, so that is quite positive,” Wenger said. “The flexibility of his ankle looks good, his mobility is good and now it’s back to getting back to full fitness without having any set-backs. So it’s very difficult to predict when he will be available again.”

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Ultimately Wenger did not want to put a time on when Cazorla would be ready again. When Cazorla first felt his injury Wenger hoped to have him back in a matter of weeks, but his absence will now extend to more than a year.

“Overall, I think it’s very difficult to set a time,” Wenger said. “Not before Christmas, that’s why I didn’t involve him in the Europa League, but overall I hope that after Christmas he will be available.”

Wenger hopes Cazorla can come back and run the midfield for Arsenal like he used to, but admitted that he does not know if that will be possible. “He has not played for over a year now,” Wenger said. “He’s had a few surgeries so you are always cautious to set a time or date, but overall, yes it looks positive.”

Cazorla’s last game for Arsenal was a Champions League game against Ludogorets on 19 October 2016, when he sustained the injury. Arsenal had hoped that the inflammation he felt would heal but he was eventually sent for surgery on the plantaris tendon on his right foot in Sweden in December.

Cazorla hasn't played for 11 months (Getty)