London: Santi Cazorla has undergone his medical at Arsenal and the club are poised to announce his £16m signing from Malaga, which they hope will be followed by the loan of Real Madrid’s Nuri Sahin. Cazorla stands to travel with the Arsenal squad on their training excursion to Germany next week and make his debut in the friendly against FC Köln.
The 27-year-old’s transfer had been held up by the turmoil at Malaga, the club that he joined from Villarreal for £15m (Dh85 million) last summer; Malaga’s debts and prospective sale have provided soap opera story-lines. But the London club’s confidence that they would get their man is finally set to be realised.
The attacking midfielder’s arrival on a four-year contract is sure to generate excitement among the club’s fans, who have seen the manager Arsene Wenger sign the strikers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud for a combined £24m but, also, have to contend with the Robin van Persie saga. Last season’s captain, who has 12 months to run on his contract and will not sign a new one at the club, has come to favour a move to Manchester United over Manchester City or Juventus, his other suitors, but there remain questions over whether United are willing to meet Arsenal’s £20m asking price.
Van Persie did not travel on the club’s tour of Asia, with Wenger citing fitness reasons rather than his potential sale but, with the squad now back in London, Van Persie is training with them. Wenger intends to take him to Germany next Tuesday, where the group will train before they face FC Köln on Sunday week.
The worry is that the Van Persie situation will continue to run and undermine the build-up to Arsenal’s opening fixture of the new season at home to Sunderland on 18 August but at least Wenger has already signed striking reinforcements. Cazorla, though, feels like the marquee addition. A member of Spain’s triumphant Euro 2008 and 2012 squads, he can operate in wide areas but he is expected to play in the central attacking midfield role in Wenger’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. He flew into London on Thursday and his signing may sugar the pill of Van Persie’s intended departure.
Sahin would further swell Wenger’s creative options. The Turkey midfielder is in talks over an initial season-long loan, having seen his opportunities restricted at Madrid. Wenger has loaned the 19-year-old striker Benik Afobe to Bolton Wanderers for the season.
Guardian News & Media 2012
