Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla yearns for Real Oviedo return

Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla wants to re-join Real Oviedo "in a few years", the Spain international has confirmed.

Cazorla spent his formative years with the second tier Spanish league side, leaving the club in 2003 as a 17-year-old to join Villarreal where he began his professional career.

The 30-year-old is one of a series of high-profile former Oviedo players which include Michu and Manchester United's Juan Mata, and the Arsenal man concedes he one day wants to return to the Carbayones.

"[Real Oviedo is] the team of which I was, I am, and will be a supporter of for all of my life," he told Spanish newspaper AS.

"It's where I grew up, I learned a lot as a player and I wish I could wear that shirt. In the short term it will be difficult, but hopefully in a few years it can be fulfilled."

Such is Cazorla's emotional bond with the club he played a part in saving them from liquidation where he brought several shares to help keep the club alive and the news he wants to spend the twilight of his career with the side comes as no surprise.

Cazorla's current contract with Arsenal expires in the summer of 2017 when he will be aged 32 and though he has played an influential role this season there are no guarantees over his future.

Last summer was dominated by suggestions that Cazorla was due to leave Arsenal for Atletico Madrid, while the player was continually coy over his desire to stay at the Emirates Stadium.

With seven goals and eight assists in the Premier League, Cazorla has been key to helping the club to second behind leaders Chelsea and into the FA Cup semi-final where they face Championship side Reading for a place in a second final in as many years.