Santi Cazorla was constantly linked with a move away from the Emirates in the summer, with reports suggesting that Atletico Madrid were ready to sign the 30-year-old midfielder. However, the Spaniard has now revealed to IBTimes UK that he never even considered leaving Arsenal and feels more valued than ever at the North London club.
I never said I wanted to return to Spain.
Those things just came from the press. I don’t understand why they publish that story because I have always been happy at the club.
I feel very valued here and the club valued me even more with a new contract. I never considered leaving Arsenal.
Santi Cazorla leaving would have been a very big loss for the club, with the Spaniard having established himself as the main central midfielder alongside Francis Coquelin in the heart of Arsenal’s midfield. The pair were a crucial part of Arsenal’s mid-season resurgence in January and have been first choice ever since.
In previous years, many star Arsenal players such as Robin Van Persie or Samir Nasri decided to transfer out of the club upon receiving other offers, so the fact a player like Santi Cazorla was not even tempted to leave, alongside the star signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez from two of the biggest clubs in the world, shows that the Gunners have really moved forward in recent times.
However, being a big team could lead to complacency, and Santi Cazorla is very well aware of this fact.
The Champions League is a competition that we really love. We want to go as far as possible but we have to go step by step. We cannot put more pressure than we already have.
We hope to have a good start in Zagreb and then go little by little.
We have the example last year against Monaco. Many said that we were the favourites to go through but they showed us that in the Champions League if you are not at your best you’re out because in this competition you face the best teams in Europe.
This season we have to go step by step.
Santi Cazorla also spoke about the striker situation at Arsenal with both Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud trying to prove themselves as the first choice.
The manager is alternating both according to the rivals and they are responding with goals.
The important thing is that whoever play feel confident and score goals because both are very important for the team.
