Former Gunner Santi Cazorla is retiring from professional football, announcing the decision on social media on Thursday morning.
Arsenal's Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla (L) and Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta (R) attend training for the forthcoming UEFA Champions League group B football match against FC Schalke 04 at Arsenal's training ground, London Colney, North London, England on October 23, 2012. (Photo credit GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
Posting on his social media pages on Thursday morning, Santi Cazorla announced his decision to retire from professional football, admitting he’s glad to be ending his career back where it started, with Real Oviedo.
“We think that life takes many twists and turns, until we understand that some stories don’t end, they just take you back to the start,” Cazorla said.
“My story didn’t start in a great stadium, nor under the spotlights. It started in Fonciello, on just another pitch, with a ball and a kid that just wanted to play football.
“That’s where I came from. Little by little I made my way. I had some great experiences. I also lived through difficult moments that I hadn’t expected.”
Santi Cazorla taking a set-piece for Real Oviedo (Photo via Cazorla on Instagram)
Photo via Cazorla on Instagram
“But I never stopped trying,” Cazorla continued. “And in the end, I came back. Not to close anything, but rather to feel it again. To remember why I had started.
“And now that everything is ending, when the boots are being hung up, and the noise is turning into silence, everything fits together. Because the ending wasn’t just anywhere, I was at home. In the same place where the magic began.”
Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta at the Emirates Stadium (Photo via Arsenal on Twitter)
Photo via Arsenal on Twitter
Cazorla admitted earlier this year that he’d made a decision about whether to retire this summer, but he stopped short of actually announcing what the decision was.
At the time, Oviedo were still fighting to try and avoid relegation from La Liga, so it would have been an unwelcome distraction.
Sadly, Oviedo ended up going down anyway, but at 41 years old, this was the time for Cazorla to call it quits. The midfielder had played a key role in Oviedo’s promotion back to the top flight in the first place, so he leaves with his head held high.
Villarreal's Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla celebrates a goal during the Spanish league football match between Villarreal CF and Deportivo Alaves at La Ceramica stadium in Vila-real on March 2, 2019. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)
Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP
Arsenal fans will obviously remember Cazorla primarily for his time in north London, winning two FA Cup trophies after his free-kick set Arsene Wenger’s side on the path to success in the 2014 final.
Cazorla also won trophies with Villarreal, Al Sadd, and Spain, having been part of the Spain squad for the Euros in 2008 and 2012. And in 2025, he won the Segunda Division play-offs with Oviedo.
He’ll now begin the next chapter of his life, and Arsenal fans will hope that involves a return back to the Emirates Stadium someday.
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 28: Santi Cazorla of Arsenal battles for the ball with Marek Suchy and Renato Steffen of Basel during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Arsenal FC and FC Basel 1893 at the Emirates Stadium on September 28, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Former Arsenal fan-favourite announce his retirement
Former Gunner Santi Cazorla is retiring from professional football, announcing the decision on social media on Thursday morning.
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