Santi Cazorla Is (Very, Very Nearly) A Gunner, But Does Arsenal’s Impressive Shopping Spree Make Them Title Contenders?

Alan Duffy

2nd, August 2012

13 Comments

By Alan Duffy

Santi Caz Is Coming To Town

Arsenal’s wantaway captain Robin Van Persie questioned the Gunners’ ambition recently. However, with Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and now Santi Cazorla all but signed, with more to come, his argument is looking increasingly misguided.

Spaniard Cazorla is the latest attacker to finally join the Gunners after weeks and weeks of speculation. The Spanish international wideman only joined Malaga at the start of the 2011/12 season, but with the La Liga club in all sorts of financial trouble, despite being bankrolled by Qatari money, they are now desperate to balance the books with a few sales.

The 27-year-old Cazorla can play wide or in behind the striker, so he will offer Arsene Wenger a number of options (as well as putting Theo Walcott under pressure) in attack.

The purchase of the star, for a fee reported to be around the £13million mark (a steal if true), could be followed by a year-long long deal for Real Madrid schemer Nuri Sahin, a player Wenger has followed for a number of years. If he does make the move to the Emirates, Turkish international Sahin, a left-footed creative central midfielder, will allow Jack Wilshere to be eased back gently into first-team action after over a year out with injury.

Rumour has it that Wenger may also be targeting at least one other Malaga player, so this summer could go down as one of the best for the north Londoners in terms of transfers in some time.

However, the question remains, with Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud in the squad, are Arsenal finally serious title contenders again? While in the case of RVP, will he change his mind and stay in north London now the big signings have been made?

Posted in Arsenal, Transfers & Rumours

Share this article: Email

13 Comments

  1. Frost says:

    Yes.

  2. Santi says:

    Good name

  3. MaxMad says:

    With all these new signings, and RVP’s doubts mentioned in his transfer request, he can toddle along now. Seems as though we’ve got quite the potent squad for the 12/13 season.

  4. lfc_man says:

    Arsene is playing football manager again.

  5. JayJay says:

    @lfc_man: Lol, Chelsea & Man Citeh are playing FM, but have got a damn cheat button on,lol

  6. jaz says:

    Yes, with cazorla, Walcott, podolski, ox, giroud, song, Arteta, Gerbinho, rosicky and potentially sahin, our attack force will be unstoppable. We will need defensive tweaks, but the title challenge is on! We’ve certainly done the best shopping should sahin and cazorla come in.

  7. Dave says:

    Hmm they do have a much better squad than last season and could be strong but I can’t see them finishing above City, United or Chelsea they’re just much better and perhaps not even Tottenham with a couple more signings.

    One thing thats for sure, they’ll finish above Liverpool, I swear Liverpool are in danger of finishing outside the top 10.

  8. MochiCavalry says:

    Arsenal will win something this year, count on it.

    Mochicavalry.blogspot.com

  9. Anonymous says:

    Arsenal wil win 2 cup

  10. adwew says:

    arsenal will win the nothing cup, cmon are you guys serious, podolski only plays good for his national side, giroud has to prove himself in premier league (it’s alot easier to score in france), santi hasn’t even been signed yet but still he dosent make that much difference i mean we are talking about a winger that in 127 games for villarreal scored 23 goals from 2007 to 2011, if i was the manager of arsenal i would let walcott play and wait till he explodes as a player and then sell him to man c. xD

  11. nagib uzbrdica says:

    great player!

  12. __wowza says:

    every year i hear the same argument and every year it ends the same.. look promising, do nothing.

  13. aguerooooo! says:

    Man City, United and Chelsea wouldn’t even sniff at any of Arsenal’s signings.

Leave a Reply to Dave