Arsenal’s injury plagued midfielder Abou Diaby is back! But what now for the Frenchman who promised so much?
Diaby has struggled with a succession of injuries since arriving at the club in 2006 and has not featured since suffering knee ligament damage against Swansea in March 2013. Diaby possesses superb athleticism and strength with technical attributes such as excellent close control and the ability to glide past opponents. Prompting comparisons with Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.
Fellow teammate Bacary Sanga was full of praise when recently speaking to Arsenal.com “To me he is one of the best in the world [when he is fit]. When he’s at his best he can play as well as Patrick Vieira did and as good as many players did. He can be useful for the team and he can be decisive” similar praise has come from players like Wayne Rooney and Serge Gnabry.
Clearly the ability is present, but injuries have been the monkey on Diaby’s back for a long time. You can’t help, but feel sorry for the guy who is portrayed in the media as a friendly guy. Abou Diaby very much keeps himself to himself, he enjoys reading and is very religious with a settled family. Despite this is it time for the Frenchman to move on in the summer and make way for new talent? Over recent years Diaby’s output of games per season has decreased even further which begs the question is his injury problem getting worse? Another question that needs to be asked is when he does come back for his 10 – 20 games a year is he making a big enough impact ? He’s had some great games in his tenure at Arsenal: Liverpool away, Real Madrid away and the League Cup Final in 2007 vs Chelsea. As well as featuring heavily for France in their 2010 World cup campaign of which he played every minute, playing ahead of other big names in the French Squad despite his lack of playing time for Arsenal.
His highest output of appearances with Arsenal came in the 2009–10 season when he played in 40 matches. Arsenal played a total of 55 competitive matches in that season. Is it time to say goodbye to one of Arsenal’s current squad’s longest serving player? Still only 27 it would be a massive risk for Arsene Wenger to let go a player who has the ability on his day to be as good as Vieira despite the Arsenal manager’s unwilliness to draw any comparisons to his beloved Vieira. “I believe Vieira was more of a passer of the ball. Diaby is more of a dribbler, more offensive and makes more penetrating runs. Vieira was more of a constructor. They have a similar elegance and type of play but are not completely comparable”. A summer exit for Diaby could potentially lead to yet another ghost coming back to haunt Wenger and Arsenal and on the face of it may look a good financial decision, but not necessarily a good footballing decision.
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