Arsenal: Santi Cazorla would have been a masterclass under Unai Emery

Arsenal fans will always fondly remember Santi Cazorla, but I think it’s safe to say that we can all miss him even more now that Unai Emery is here.

Few players have been as unanimously loved as Santi Cazorla, especially at Arsenal, where everyone manages to divide opinion. The Spaniard moved on at the end of his contract last summer after an 18-month injury layoff and, needless to say, the club had managed to move on without him. They had to.

But their answer in the wake of Cazorla’s departure was two world class attacking midfielders, both of whom should have easily seen off any remaining curiosities of what Santi Cazorla could have done in the Unai Emery system.

Now, though, I can’t help but think about how much of a blessing a full-strength Cazorla would have been in this new system. Ozil and Mkhitaryan have both been remarkably underwhelming due to a lack of ball control and a lack of, well, creativity. They just haven’t been good.

Cazorla never really had inconsistency problems. Even when he was moved around across positions, he took very little time to acclimate before he was settled and firing.

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In the current Emery system, I like to think that he and Aaron Ramsey could play a rotating role with the No. 10 position, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out wide alongside Alexandre Lacazette. Seeing as how the Gunners are already forfeiting speed and width, Cazorla would fit right in, and with his sound feet, arguably the soundest feet I’ve seen at the Emirates in decades, the upgrade would be immediate.

It wouldn’t make much sense to play him at a deep pivot role because Granit Xhaka already has that position down pat. The player that would need to slide in next to him is a Lucas Torreira type, not another attacking midfielder type.

Cazorla was always reliable when it came to creating consistent chances, threatening the goal, and doing his due diligence on defense, which is more than Ozil can say, and the consistency part is more than Mkhitaryan can claim. Which is why pairing him with Ramsey in a central role, with more midfielders in behind him, would have been fantastic.

But alas, such talk does nothing for the club, except perhaps to establish a schematic for the type of player we should be looking for. Good luck finding another Santi Cazorla, though. They aren’t exactly common.

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