Wenger Delaying Cazorla Return To Prevent Spain Call-Up

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is delaying Santi Cazorla’s return to prevent him being made available for international duty, according to reports today.

Cazorla has been on the sidelines since picking up an ankle injury while away with the Spanish squad at the start of last month. The 28-year-old has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation work and his protective boot was removed last week enabling him to start gentle jogging again.

The former Malaga man revealed last week during a question and answer session with Arsenal.com that he hoped to return to training this week and be back in contention against West Brom this Sunday. However,Wenger confirmed today that the midfielder will not feature at the Hawthorns and insists he won’t be back until after the international break.

If Cazorla had played this weekend, Vicente del Bosque would have been within his rights to call him up for Spain’s forthcoming World Cup qualifiers with Belarus and Georgia. But Goal claim that Wenger has delayed the players return in order to prevent him from being made available for international duty.

It’s quiet the accusation and very difficult to prove, but as an Arsenal fan I can understand if Wenger has decided to take this course of action. He wants to protect his players after all, but there is also the suggestion that it could actually be beneficial for Arsenal for Cazorla to go and get some much-needed game time under his belt with Spain.

Either way, it looks like Santi will be back in contention to face Norwich on the 19th, which is obviously excellent news.