Since July 1st 2016, Santi Cazorla has experienced one of the biggest drops in transfer market value in world football.

According to transfermarket.co.uk, only nine players have seen a greater drop in value than the Spanish midfielder in the last year and a bit.

Transfermarkt put Cazorla’s 2016 value at £21.6m, but have now cut that in half to just £10.8m.

Unfortunately for Santi, this drop in value has very little to do with what he’s actually done on the pitch, and there isn’t much he can do to put it right. Instead, the drop will be as a result of three factors that Santi can’t really control.

Firstly, age.

Cazorla is now 32 years old, and his 33rd birthday is only a couple of months away. There are very few 32-year-olds attracting mega-money fees, with the exception of one with the first name ‘Cristiano’.

Secondly, and probably most importantly, fitness.

Santi has been injured for approaching a year now, and doesn’t seem much closer to returning than he did the day after he suffered the injury in the first place. Not something that sends your value sky-rocketing.

Finally, length of contract.

The Spanish international’s gone from having a year left with the option to extend, to having eight months left with no reports of any new contract negotiations. Contract length is probably the most objective way of measuring a player’s value, and it’s another factor going against the Gunner.

All Santi can do is continue to work on his fitness and hope that eventually he’ll be able to send his value back in the other direction.