Former Arsenal and Spain star who almost lost his foot announces retirement at 41

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Former Arsenal and Spain international Santi Cazorla has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 41.

He made the announcement with an Instagram post, concluding a successful career of more than two decades.

“There are stories that don’t end…they live on forever,” the post stated. “Thank you for everything.”

Cazorla had been playing with his boyhood club Oviedo since 2023, helping them gain promotion to the top flight in 2025. The club was relegated again last season.

He thrived with Villarreal and Arsenal, where he was a major contributor under Arsene Wenger from 2012-18. During this period he won the FA Cup twice in 2014 and 2015.

With Spain, the playmaker won the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.

Cazorla spent six years at Arsenal (Getty)

Cazorla dealt with serious injuries throughout his career, including one that kept him from playing when Spain won the World Cup in 2010.

Back in 2017, Cazorla revealed how close he came to losing his foot after undergoing eight operations on an ankle injury.

Cazorla was told that he would never play football again, and that he also needed a skin graft from his arm to cover the wound – which means that part of a tattoo is now located on his foot – having become infected with gangrene, as he nearly required an amputation to prevent it spreading up his leg.

“The problem was that it did not heal and the wounds would reopen, become infected,” Cazorla told Marca.

British doctors were unable to find a solution to the infection, and in a desperate attempt to save his career he flew to Spain to see specialist Dr Mikel Sanchez, who admitted he had never seen a similar issue in his career.

“He saw that I had a tremendous infection, that I had damaged part of the bone and damaged the Achilles tendon,” added Cazorla.

To add to the problems, Cazorla also contracted a blood infection, but despite the numerous setbacks he returned to football and was able to play for almost a decade longer before finally hanging up his boots on Thursday to bring the curtain down on a glittering career.

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