Santi Cazorla following in Fabregas footsteps

The transfer of Santi Cazorla to Arsenal did not, perhaps, receive the fanfare it quite merited. On the day that Alistair Brownlee, Laura Trott and Sir Chris Hoy won gold medals for Great Britain, the news that the club had paid "an undisclosed fee" for a Malaga midfielder of only oblique renown in this country was understandably shunted some way down the sporting bulletins. But the significance of that moment is in little doubt now. Even if not everybody knew it at the time, Arsenal had signed a player of considerable influence.

For Cazorla is threatening to provide Arsene Wenger with something he has lacked since the departure of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona a year ago: a playmaker with the touch and vision to link midfield and attack and the footballing intelligence to unlock defences.

Manuel Pellegrini, who was Cazorla's manager and mentor at Villarreal and Malaga, one described him as his desatascador - literally, a 'plunger' or 'unblocker' - for his ability to unravel tight defences with a decisive pass. At around pounds 15?million, Cazorla is proving to be one of the bargains of the summer.

Though there were few qualms over his talent, what was unclear at the outset was how quickly the diminutive Cazorla (at just 5ft?6in, he is one of the shortest players in the Premier League) would become accustomed to the physicality of English football. David Silva, the Manchester City midfielder and one of Cazorla's opponents tomorrow, arguably took the best part of a season to produce his very best form.

"The Premier League is a bit more special thanks to the rhythm of the games, the pace, the intensity of the commitment, the intensity of every challenge," said Wenger.

"Sometimes it is difficult to adapt to that, but the way we play is a very continental style, so it gives them a good chance to adapt very quickly.Players like Cazorla have adapted in a speedy way; the game goes through them. Sometimes it is easy to adapt in the middle of the park because the game goes more through you."

"He's brilliant," team-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has said. "He's a typical Spanish player, really technical. He's got a good right foot, a good left foot and he can dribble. You know when you get a buzz off a player and you can bounce off him and get good vibes? Santi has that with everyone, because he's that sort of player."

At Villarreal, Cazorla made his name as a wide midfielder who drifted in from the flanks to receive the ball. Under Wenger, he has had a far more central, advanced role, with Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby giving him the defensive cover to roam.

It is an evolution that mirrors that of Fabregas, who started his career as an orthodox central midfielder before gradually moving further up the pitch, to the point where he played almost as a centre forward for Spain at Euro 2012. "I came to play on the touchline, with the freedom to get inside," Cazorla said last week.

"I was surprised when I started in pre-season as a second striker. Wenger put me directly in the playmaker position."

To stretch the Fabregas parallel, Cazorla is even using the same English teacher that Fabregas visited when he first moved to England almost a decade ago, taking twice-weekly classes depending on his schedule. It is the diligence of a man determined to fit in. "He has gained the respect of everybody very quickly," Wenger said. "Cazorla is humble, he loves the game."

Like many Spanish players of his generation, Cazorla possesses the vital quality of perspective. The power of the game to edify and destroy by the same hand was brought home to him during a match for Real Oviedo against Atletico Madrid in 2000.

In the dying moments, Atletico were awarded a penalty that would have kept them in the division. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink stepped up, and missed. Seconds later, Atletico were relegated. The 15-year-old Cazorla was not playing. Instead, he was a ballboy transfixed by the gravity of the moment.

"It dawned on me then that even famous players like Hasselbaink can have off-days," he remembered later.

"It affected me and opened my eyes to the emotion of the game. Now, when I'm playing, I take time to look at the faces of the ball boys, because maybe one day one of them can be the next Santi Cazorla."