Arsenal's Abou Diaby conundrum

A professional footballer’s worst nightmare is being told that he will not be able to play football, for however long that might be. The primary reason such bad news is broken to them is injuries. And one player who is absolutely no stranger to injuries is Arsenal’s midfielder Abou Diaby.

Diaby is an absolute enigma. Ever since he joined Arsenal, no other player has suffered injury setbacks as many times as Diaby has. You could count the number of times using the fingers on both your hands, after which you’d need a few toes as well. The fact that most of them are recurring injuries is a big cause for concern.

Injury History

To be fair to him, some of his injuries have been due to malicious or mistimed tackles. For example, it was Sunderland’s Dan Smith whose tackle fractured and dislocated Diaby’s ankle back in May 2006. This was Diaby’s first major career-threatening injury and it ruled him out for eight months! He required three surgeries to set his ankle right and intense rehabilitation to ensure that he could set foot in a football field again.

Even after his comeback, he was used cautiously and ended the 2006/07 season with only one goal and assist. An impressive start to the 2007/08 season was followed by a mediocre mid-season, after which he suffered a thigh injury towards the end. Another spell on the sidelines followed, and when they tried to reintegrate him back into the squad, his condition deteriorated, thereby ending his season once and for all.

Abou Diaby of Arsenal lies injured on the pitch before being stretchered off during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium on January 31, 2009 in London, England.

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Perhaps Diaby’s best period for the club was in between 2008 and 2010, where he played more than 30 games per season, either as a starter or a substitute. And for a while, it answered the question why Wenger’s belief in Diaby wasn’t misplaced. He provided a certain balance between attack and defence, and a bit of physicality in the centre.

Diaby proved to be an integral part of the midfield playing alongside Fabregas and Song, netting goals and racking up assists. His stats at the end of the season were comforting at a time when he was considered a good squad player.

But the injury cloud stuck to him like a bad rash, and various injuries to his legs (whether it was his calf, thigh or groin) meant that he missed many games at a stretch. In fact, last season, he only made 5 appearances in total – all as a substitute.

This season started well for Diaby, as he made a return to the midfield post Alex Song’s move to Barcelona. A ‘Man of the Match’ performance against Liverpool at Anfield had fans and pundits singing his praises. Although it was one of his best performances and reinforced Wenger’s trust in his abilities, everyone knew that it would all be for nothing if he wasn’t able to sustain himself at that level for many games at a stretch.

Disagreements with the French national team manager Didier Deschamps followed as Diaby was used in a friendly game and subsequently got injured because he wasn’t quite ready to handle so many games in a row. And finally, a muscle tear against Chelsea at the Emirates saw him come off in the first half. He didn’t make his return to the squad until last month.

Cause for Concern

Diaby walking down the tunnel during a game has now become a familiar sight at Arsenal’s games. And what’s becoming increasingly alarming is that these injury niggles tend to come to the surface during important games, throwing Wenger’s tactics right out the window.

So the question to be asked is: after seven years, why does Wenger still persist with a player who has averaged only 12 appearances per season over the last three seasons and who is perpetually “two to three weeks away from full fitness”? Being in his mid-twenties, Diaby is a player who is supposed to be at the peak of his career. Yet, the injury bug has ensured he is never 100% fit throughout a campaign.

To make matters worse, Diaby is supposedly on £50,000 to £60,000 per week at Arsenal (depending on which source you believe) thanks to Wenger’s ‘socialist wage policy’. Divide that by the number of minutes he has actually been on the pitch during that period and you’ll see that a ridiculous amount of money has been spent on a player who has barely got the club some decent returns. It is an investment that has failed miserably, and the Arsenal fans’ patience is running thin.

For the first time in a long time, Wenger has accepted that Diaby’s injuries are a major concern. Wenger explained why Abou Diaby is plagued with so many injuries in a press conference last November.

“The situation for Diaby is so frustrating and for us as well we started the season well with him in the team and since he has been out we have felt it… There is an explanation. He is quick, strong, has good stamina, good resistance to repeat, but his muscle strength is not good enough to deal with that. Sometimes little fibres go in his muscles, this is basically his problem.”

“When you play every three days, you cannot rebuild your strength as you need to recover. When you don’t rebuild your strength, through the games you burn your fibres a bit and become weaker and weaker, so that means he gets injured.”

“The second reason for his problems of course is his ankle. Since he was slaughtered at Sunderland, his mobility in his ankle has been affected.”

Now, that was a surprisingly honest and accurate account of Diaby’s injuries. In spite of knowing these facts, Wenger placed his faith in Diaby, who returned to the squad after another lay-off and passed up an opportunity to sign reinforcements in January.

In spite of slots being available in the squad and ample money to spend, Wenger refused to sign a new player. At a time when the 5-year rebuilding plan post the Emirates move has failed, how much longer is Wenger going to wait before Diaby comes good?

Once dubbed ‘the next Patrick Vieira’, Diaby’s market value has more than halved since the time he extended his contract in 2010. And it isn’t as if clubs are lining up for his services. Whether Diaby will repay Wenger’s faith in him (again!) with a consistent run of games remains to be seen. But judging by his injury history, Arsenal fans will certainly not be getting their hopes up.

With Diaby, they will only be left thinking about what could have been.