Málaga CF have smashed their transfer record by agreeing to pay Villarreal CF a reported €22m for Spanish international Santi Cazorla.
The midfielder, 26, has signed a five-year deal at La Rosaleda and joins fellow new signings Diego Buonanotte, Isco, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Nacho Monreal, Joris Mathijsen, Jérémy Toulalan, Sergio Sánchez and Joaquín at the southern club. He trained with his new team-mates for the first time this morning, having flown to the city late on Wednesday.
"Although the change is an important one and one that fills me with hope, it's still difficult to leave after so many years at the club; they've put their confidence in me since I was 18," said Cazorla of his old club Villarreal. "I'm now looking forward to joining my new team-mates and adapting to my new surroundings."
The UEFA EURO 2008 winner had spent all of his senior career with Villarreal save for a season with RC Recreativo de Huelva in 2006/07. His 25 goals in 180 Liga matches for the Yellow Submarine made him a fans' favourite and also helped earn him international recognition with Spain, for whom he has been capped 34 times.
Málaga had already broken their transfer record once this summer by spending over €10m on France midfielder Toulalan. Coach Manuel Pellegrini's expensively assembled squad will open the 2011/12 season at home to champions FC Barcelona while Villarreal will look to enter the UEFA Champions League group stage via next month's play-offs.
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