Santi Cazorla has been offered the chance to spend pre-season with his former club Villarreal with his Arsenal contract due to expire.
Standard Sport understands that no final decision has been taken over Cazorla's future but he is not expected to be offered new terms at the club, who he joined in 2012.
The 33-year-old has been sidelined since October 2016 due to a chronic Achilles injury that has required 10 separate operations and a skin graft after he lost eight centimetres of tendon in his right ankle.
Cazorla returned to first-team training with Arsenal in the final weeks of the season but was unable to build up sufficient fitness to make an appearance in the final games of the campaign.
Though Cazorla was close with Mikel Arteta, the Manchester City assistant who is expected to be named Arsenal head coach next week, it would constitute a sizeable risk for any club to hand the Spaniard a playing contract. However Villarreal would be prepared to bring back the playmaker, who played over 200 times for them in two separate spells between 2003 and 2011.
“I would love to confirm [a transfer],” said Marcos Senna, Cazorla’s former team-mate and an ambassador for Villarreal.
“But at the moment what I've said is that there are advanced negotiations between Santi Cazorla and Villarreal for the player to spend pre-season with the club.
“He will be a free agent.”
Outgoing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said before his exit was confirmed that Cazorla could be handed a new contract and has rarely hidden from the reality that the Gunners could have performed to a far higher standard with the Spain international in their side.
Cazorla is held in extremely high regard at Arsenal by both players and club staff. In recent years his fitness has coincided with Arsenal's most consistent form, his ability to dictate play from deep allowing Mesut Ozil to flourish and providing greater security to the Gunners' defence.
