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“It’s very sad” – Wenger offers worrying injury update on Arsenal star
Arsene Wenger has offered a worrying update on Santi Cazorla after revealing the Arsenal midfielder has to start from ‘zero’ again in his long road to recovery.
Cazorla has been out since damaging his Achilles during our Champions League win over Ludogorets at the Emirates in October of 2016 and what was meant to be a simple injury has turned in to a nightmare.
The 32-year-old revealed last month that he almost lost his foot after contracting gangrene and was forced to have a skin graft from his arm to heal the wound on his ankle.
It looked like Santi was on the road to recovery and he was pencilled in to return to training in January but then disaster struck once again as he suffered another setback two weeks ago.
The midfielder was forced to undergo his NINTH operation after feeling discomfort in his ankle and Wenger has now confirmed that the playmaker has to start his rehabilitation from ‘zero’ again.
The devastating news means any hopes of a January return have been ruled out and Arsene says it will be at least February before Cazorla will be able to run again – at which point he’ll need six weeks to get back to fitness.
Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror:
“I sent him a message because he had surgery and wished him well. He (Cazorla) answered ‘I have to start again from zero’.
“It’s very sad. What Santi has gone through is unbelievable. It’s really, really sad. But unfortunately he has to start again from zero.”
“If all goes well he has to wait until he starts to run and after he starts to run it takes six weeks to come back to training.
“When he can start to run again I don’t know. I was hopeful of January, but after this setback certainly now not before February.”
This is hugely disappointing news but not unexpected as the latest surgery was always likely to mean Cazorla will have to start his recovery from the start.
I suppose the hope now is that Santi is able to run again in February and make a return to training at the end of March, but the likelihood is he’ll face more setbacks along the way once he steps-up his workload.
Sadly, I’d be surprised if we see Cazorla playing first team football again for Arsenal as his contract is up in June and there are no guarantees he’ll get himself fit enough to play before the end of the season.