Santi Cazorla is fun. On the pitch he's a joy to watch, and off it there's a charm to the Spaniard that's impossible not to warm to.
His postmatch interviews often amuse, as he doesn't bother with the trivialities of answering what he's been asked. He just talks about the game in general, uses the phrase "it was very important" at some point and smiles. Then he does the same with the next question.
It's not easy to deal with live TV in your second language, but Cazorla's decision to treat these media requirements as the inanities they are is to be applauded -- because he's a man who does his best talking on the pitch.
When he joined Arsenal in the summer of 2012, the Gunners were a team shorn of most of its midfield creativity. That the weight of that responsibility the season before had fallen on Alex Song tells its own story.
Fellow signings that summer, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, were brought in to replace the goals of Robin van Persie, but it was the Spaniard on whom greater responsibility lay. Arsenal were predictable in midfield. They lacked anyone with real vision and passing ability in the final third, and it's fair to say Cazorla did what was expected.
In his first Premier League season, he was the only ever-present, scoring 12 goals, making 11 assists and creating 95 chances in the 38 games. If last season was one where he didn't quite make the same impact, nobody can forget his Wembley free kick, which was the beginning of Arsenal turning around a 2-0 deficit to win their first trophy in nine years, beating Hull 3-2 in the FA Cup final.
He still ended up with seven goals, the same number he has already this season -- all but two of which have come from the penalty spot. In the absence of regular taker Mikel Arteta, Cazorla has taken on the responsibility and been successful with 100 percent of them.
The thing is, with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil entering his second season at the Emirates, not to mention Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey as midfield competitors, many wondered if Cazorla might end up marginalised this campaign.
Instead he has become one of the team's key components, particularly in the recent good form that Arsenal have shown. Yes, there have been frustrating defeats to Stoke, Southampton and Spurs, but Arsene Wenger's team has won 14 of their last 18 games. After an opening to the season punctuated by too many draws, it's a welcome development as the chase for the top four heats up.
In the midst of that has been an astonishing variety of performance from the former Malaga and Villarreal man. At the Etihad he was the man who made the midfield tick. As Manchester City's big, strong defensive midfielders tried to stop him, he twisted, turned and showed incredible strength and agility to keep the ball and ease the pressure on his defence.
Against Middlesbrough on Sunday, fans saw similar moments as the visitors' midfield tried to box Cazorla in but failed completely to do so. The only way they could stop him was with a foul. And when they couldn't stop him, Cazorla used all the ability he has as a No. 10, a truly gifted creative player, to make things happen going forward.
To watch him hold on to the ball as men bigger, stronger, heavier and more aggressive try everything they can to get it off him is, in all honesty, hilarious. It's like a cartoon escapade. The big meanies coming off second best to the whiz kid.
And what other way is there but fun to describe a man who can take dangerous free kicks and corners with what is ostensibly his "wrong" foot? Most footballers can barely use theirs for standing on, let alone testing goalkeepers with wicked set pieces. To top it all off, Cazorla plays with a joyful enthusiasm that is infectious. He wants to do things with the ball, not play it safe.
People asked not long ago how Wenger was supposed to fit Sanchez, Ozil and Cazorla into the same team. It felt like a three-into-two situation, but with the Chilean having a storming season, Ozil back from injury and finding some form straight away and Cazorla playing as well as he ever has in red and white, Wenger has to find room for all of them.
For Arsenal fans, who have had to live with choices far less attractive than this in recent seasons, it's something to enjoy.