The talented Spanish midfielder Santiago Cazorla believes he will settle into playing with his Arsenal team-mates very quickly, although he admits that the pace of the game in England is a lot faster than he’s used to after playing in La Liga.
Also there were many rumours last summer saying that Arsenal were in contention with Malaga for his signature, and Cazorla admitted this was true. He said: “My initial impressions are really good and I’m really happy to be here. Hopefully we can have a great season this year and with any luck I’ll be able to help the team achieve great things.
“It’s a great team, with a very important history in the English game. I know they’ve been interested in me for a few years and that means a lot to me. It is a good fit for me.
“Here there is a faster rhythm to the game, a higher tempo. In Spain games are more cautious, more tactical. Here is more tempo, more to-ing and fro-ing, but I like it.”
“Every day I’m becoming more used to my team mates and enjoying myself more. The club have done a lot to help me settle in the team and to make it easy for me to get used to life in the city. Every day is a little bit better and I feel a little more comfortable.”
Despite a lot of English teams having big, strong players, Cazorla doesn’t think his size (5ft 6in) will have an adverse affect on playing in the Premiership. “It’s overstated,” he said. “The idea that smaller, technical players can’t do well here. We have powerful players in Spain, too.
“Being tall isn’t what makes you a good footballer and I don’t think that’s the defining factor in English football at all.
“It’s a great league and it’s a different challenge. There’s a great passion for football here and it’s a wonderful place to play your football.
Having spent most of his career playing as a winger, Cazorla also revealed that Wenger is expecting to play a more central role. He said: “That’s where the manager played me, as a second striker, with the freedom that I like to have. It’s a position I really like, not one I’ve played in much in recent years, but I will play there without problems.”
Being the same size as Lionel Messi, and having played regularly against the Argentinian and also Christiano Ronaldo, you would have thought that one of these two would be his favourite footballer that he has faced, but he has other ideas! He said: Cazorla said: “During your life you always have different players that you like. When I was a child, because my dad liked the ‘Dream Team’, I liked Michael Laudrup.
“But I have always said the best player I have played against, and the most elegant player, was Zinedine Zidane. There’s Messi and Ronaldo, but I still think being lucky enough to play against Zidane, and see him play, was amazing. He is still the best.
“He had it all as a player. He was elegant, he had quality, he was strong and he was tall. He looked like he was going to be clumsy because of his height but then you realised he was so skilful and gifted with the ball.
“I really enjoyed watching him play, it was a pleasure. I would highlight everything about him, because he had everything to be the best player.”
He has had a promising start to his Arsenal career, and perhaps we will be seeing our youngsters talking about him as their hero in the same way he talks about Zidane. Arsene Wenger obviously believes in him……
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