A sad moment has just passed, Santi has left the building and rejoined Villarreal.
In my mind an Arsenal legend, a touch of class in a team that was falling apart around him.
In an injury ravaged 6 year stay at The Emirates, Santi managed just 129 games, with a scoring rate of a goal every 5, a ratio some frontline strikers would be jealous of and his assist record of 35 wasn’t that shabby either.
In my humble opinion, if Abou and Santi could have both stayed fit, their central midfield partnership could have reached the heights of Paddy and Petit/Gilberto.

(Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
So, to honour Santi, here are his greatest hits –
May 2014 Vs Hull:
It didn’t win us the cup, but it gave us he belief that we could and it was one hell of a free kick.
Jan 2015 Vs Man City
Arguably Santi’s greatest game for The Gunners. An assist, a goal and a complete midfield performance of Santi at his best.
Nov 2012 Vs West HamSanti could score some screamers and he had a penchant for scoring the in London derbies.
And sadly Santi’s final game, 19th October 2016 Vs Ludogorets Razgrad
#GraciasSanti

English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…
Thanks for the memories Steve. He was a magician who always played with a big smile on his face. So sad that his career was ended in such appalling circumstances. I hope he has many more smiley days with Villareal before he finally hangs up his boots.
imho he left two years ago as hes rarely played rarely did it in the big games im sad to say he was a flat track bully like so many of our players in bloody recent years