Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has revealed that he is still "five months" away from returning to first-team action.
The 32-year-old has not featured for the Gunners since October 2016, when he suffered a recurrence of a previous Achilles problem.
It is the second successive season that the Spaniard has battled to overcome a number of injuries, and the midfielder has admitted that he considered "throwing in the towel" after being forced to undergo "eight surgeries".
"You feel like throwing in the towel but my desire to play football is above everything," Cazorla told Cadena Ser. "I haven't been given a timeframe [to return]. It's very difficult to put a date, but I don't think it will be within five months.
"I've undergone eight surgeries, the last one yesterday [Monday]. I hope that things go better. I've had complications since November. I got a bacterial infection in surgery, my bone got infected, the wound would not close and I had a graft done.
"I had a bad spell with a back problem [as a Villarreal player in 2010] but this is worse because it doesn't depend on me. Right now I can't think about the future, I just want to return to playing."
Cazorla, who scored twice in 11 appearances during the 2016-17 campaign, is contracted to Arsenal until the end of next season.
Matt Law
