One of the most pleasing aspects at the start of the season was the return of Abou Diaby.
The 26-year-old was fit and firing on all cylinders, as he bossed the midfield alongside Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta. Not only did Diaby add much needed height and muscle to our trio in the middle, but he can play a fair bit as well.
Many had tipped big things for the player for the rest of the season, who had already played more minutes in the current Premier League campaign than he did for the entire duration of last year.
His return from injury had reminded us of what Arsene Wenger has been saying all along, and that is that he can be a big player for Arsenal.
But then, once again, disaster struck.
Ever since arriving in North London back in 2006 from Auxerre, the big man has been dealt injury blow after blow which has really held up his Gunners career.
It’s amazing to think that he has been with the side for over six years now and yet we have barely seen him in action.
Diaby had been longingly compared to club legend Patrick Vieira, but being French, tall and bald is about as far as that resemblance goes.
Diaby doesn’t mind doing the dirty work and getting a foot into the tackle, but he is far too agile and skillful to be a holding midfielder. He almost seems to be the complete box-to-box midfielder and can do it all.
However, as we’ve said far too often, Diaby is full of potential that we are not seeing due to his poor injury record.
While he is a very talented player, he has witnessed the vast amount of his Gunners career dictated by injury. There is no doubt he can be a brilliant player, but he needs to get off the treatment table for us to see that, the same could be said for Tomas Rosicky.
We haven’t seen the lanky player since he limped out of our defeat to Chelsea at the end of September, and despite the fact that Wenger claims he is 3-4 weeks away, we’ve heard it all before in the past.
Diaby is talent, has experience at the highest level, is an international player and is still only 26. With the January transfer window fast approaching, would it be wise for Wenger to cash in on Diaby?
Wenger reportedly turned down a £10m offer from Turkey for the player not that long ago, but would he change his mind now?
I for one wouldn’t be too gutted if he left, yes like I said he is a fantastic player, but he is getting paid a shed load of cash for sitting on the treatment table every day, which for me is not on.
Take a look at the video below, and then cast your vote in the poll.
Matt Cotton
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