Santi Cazorla has returned to the club he first joined at the age of 11 in an emotional deal that stands to directly benefit the club’s academy.
Oviedo have signed the former Arsenal favourite on a season-long contract, following his stint in Qatar with Al Sadd.
The Spanish Segunda Division team will pay Cazorla, 38, the lowest wage allowed on a pro deal in the league reportedly worth in the region of £1,200-a-week.
Furthermore, the winger has ceded all image rights to his new club and agreed a deal that will see 10 per cent of the proceeds from all shirt sales bearing his name donated to the Oviedo academy.
Cazorla was born half an hour up the road from the Estadio Carlos Tartiere in nearby Llanera, and turned out for the club as a youth player for several years before joining Villarreal aged 17.
The former Spain international has an affinity with a number of his former clubs and also made an emotional return to Villarreal in 2018.
That followed a popular stint at Arsenal, where he won the FA Cup twice. Cazorla’s final years in north London were blighted by a heel injury suffered in late 2016, which led to eight operations and him contracting gangrene which threatened both his career and future ability to walk.
However, his return to playing was successful with a recall to the Spain national team and a number of trophies won in Qatar before this homecoming with Oviedo.
