Abou Diaby could get new Arsenal contract

Abou Diaby

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that injury-plagued Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby could be offered a new contract at the club. The condition though is that the 28-year-old needs to prove his match-fitness toi the club. Wenger claimed that the midfielder was not injury-prone but "the victim of an assassin's tackle that went unpunished."

Sunderland midfielder Dan Smith’s tackle back in 2006 cause a severe ankle fracture to the Frenchman from which he has never truly recovered. The former Auxerre player was out for 8 months that season and their were talks of a legal action by the Emirates-based club.

“Diaby hasn’t a mental problem but a problem of injury. He is a player for whom I have great respect. Whenever he returns, he is injured and he goes from zero. He was destroyed by a bad tackle.

“The football player needs mobility of his ankle. When your ankle mobility is restricted, you compensate with something else. He suffered from a very bad tackle in Sunderland six or seven years ago. He was the victim of an assassin’s tackle that was never punished. It has restricted the mobility of his ankle.

“If he comes back, I will keep him. I always believed in him. In football, the most important thing is health.”

He has made only one appearance this season for Arsenal and only 22 in the past four.