It’s being reported that Santi Cazorla will return to one of his former clubs to undergo pre-season training with them as he looks to play first team football again.

The 33 year old has been out of action since October 2016 with a well documented nightmare in terms of injury and infection, although he did recently step up his training at Arsenal.

However, he was not fit enough to play any part before the end of the season, and this summer he’ll do pre-season training with Villarreal to try and prove his fitness and perhaps get a contract with the La Liga side.

Cazorla played for them between 2003 and 2011, making 241 appearances, before going on to Malaga and then to Arsenal in the summer of 2012. His contract with us expires at the end of June.

Reports that he was going to be part of Mikel Arteta’s coaching staff were purely speculative, so there is no snub to his former teammate as is being suggested.

It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to say a proper goodbye to a wonderful player and really great guy, but we wish him luck and it’d be fantastic to see him get properly fit and play again.

Gracias, Santi.