Arsenal cult hero leads boyhood club to glory aged 40 despite threat of foot amputation

Arsenal cult hero Santi Cazorla helped his boyhood club Real Oviedo secure promotion to La Liga on Saturday evening, despite nearly losing his foot eight years ago. The 40-year-old was forced to undergo 11 operations on an ankle injury during his time with the Gunners and lost eight centimetres of his tendon before the area became infected.

Cazorla, who left Arsenal in 2018, signed for Oviedo for a second time in August 2023 following a three-year spell with Al-Sadd in Qatar. He previously came through the club's academy before departing to join Villarreal as an 18-year-old in 2003. Oviedo booked their place in this season's La Liga 2 play-offs after finishing third in the table. And on Saturday they went head-to-head with CD Mirandes in the second leg of the final after defeating Almeria in a two-legged semi.

Oviedo lost the first leg of the final 1-0 away from home and fell 2-0 behind on aggregate when Joaquin Panichelli opened the scoring for Mirandes in the return fixture at the Carlos Tartiere Stadium.

But Cazorla, who is out of contract this summer, gave his side a fighting chance of turning the tie on its head when he netted a penalty six minutes before half time.

Ilyas Chaira then levelled the tie, with Francisco Portillo scoring a winner for Oviedo in extra time. That means Cazorla is likely to feature in La Liga next season as he is set to be handed a new deal by his current employers.

Cazorla was a star player for Arsenal when he first arrived in England in 2012 but suffered an ankle injury during a Champions League victory over Ludogorets in October 2016.

Following the loss of his tendon, he needed a skin graft from his arm to cover the wound before picking up an infection and developing gangrene.

The issue almost required an amputation to prevent the infection from travelling up his leg.

During an interview with Marca eight years ago, Cazorla discussed a conversation he had with English doctors as he explained: "'If you manage to walk with your child in the garden again, be satisfied,' they told me."

Discussing how serious the problem was, he added: "At that time I was still playing, they told me that I was fine. The problem is that it did not heal and the wounds reopened, became infected."

And acknowledging the shock of a Spanish doctor when the extent of his injuries became apparent, the veteran stated: "He saw that I had a tremendous infection, that I had damaged part of my calcaneal bone and eaten my Achilles tendon, I was 8 centimetres missing."