The midfielder is starring for Villarreal after a horror injury ended his Arsenal career. He tells of being cut up and put together again, his feelings for his former club and how close he came to retiring
“I’m a jigsaw puzzle,” Santi Cazorla says. There is a bit of his left forearm on his right ankle, a piece of thigh in its place and the back of a leg in one heel. There is also a grin on his face, somehow. There is a metal plate in a foot and a new achilles, made from rolled-up hamstring, occupying the space where the rot set in. He points to the body parts that are where they are not supposed to be, a player for whom “patched up” applies literally, a tale told by tattoo: it says “I, n, d …” on an arm and “… i, a” on an ankle, his daughter’s name cut in half and grafted on, artery and all, where there was once a hole – a window into the horror below.
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Written by Sid Lowe
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/07/santi-cazorla-villarreal-injury-arsenal-interview-sid-lowe under the title “Santi Cazorla: ‘Every time they sewed me up, it split again, more liquid’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
