I thought the reason we didn’t buy Cesc Fabregas was because we had Mesut Ozil.

Speaking ahead of the game against Swansea at the Emirates, the boss likened the tiny Spaniard to Robert Pires, high praise indeed.

Moving Cazorla into a deeper midfield role has been an absolute stroke of genius by the boss and Santi has flourished in the role, adding steel to his game and tackling like his little life depended on it.

We lost Cesc Fabregas and Santi was one of those players who could bring us that technical quality,” Arsene said.

“His career at Arsenal is in two stages. The first was when I played him wide, he was like a midfielder playing wide and contributing a bit like Robert Pires did as a wide player.

“He transformed completely when I moved him central and it looks to me that centrally is where he is really at ease and brings a lot to the team. Why? Because he’s a team player, he works very hard and he also gives us that continuity, that fluidity.”

Cazorla has been linked with a move away from the club this summer with Atletico Madrid said to be eying up the midfielder. But fear not! Santi has no intentions of going anywhere and is hoping that the Arsenal actually extend his current deal with the club.

We hope so too, Santi.