Abou Diaby says he seriously considered quitting football while sidelined by knee ligament damage but now wants to get his career back on track after over a year out of the game.
The French international was included on the bench for the win over West Bromwich Albion yesterday, his first matchday experience since mid-March 2013, and admits that dreams of playing in the World Cup and his religious beliefs have helped him though another difficult period in his career.
“You ask yourself whether you’re going to still be a footballer,” he told L’Equipe (translation by ESPN.co.uk) of the setbacks endured while trying to overcome his ACL injury.
“You think of giving up everything. I said to myself: ‘I’m sick of this! I’m quitting!’ I spoke about it with my parents, my brothers, my sisters, my friends…Then, I got up one morning: ‘No, out of the question!'”
“I had to start from scratch. But given where I’d been, it didn’t really matter. It’s been tough because I’ve had a lot of injuries. I’m religious, and in my belief, despair doesn’t exist. You must never give in. Also, I’m only 27, soon 28. I still have five or six years ahead of me, perhaps more.
“If my black season could end with a cup final victory, that would be marvellous,” said Diaby, who has all but given up hope of adding to his 16 international caps at this summer’s World Cup.
“There are two games left, you have to be realistic. But if I could be the 23rd man on the plane for Brazil… I dream of that.”
Abou has one final year left on his contract at the Emirates and while he’s not the missing piece of the midfield puzzle, the chance to complete a full pre-season coupled with players being rested after World Cup duty means he could well be competing for a first team berth come August.
I don’t like stories where good, persistent, strong people keep trying and fail. I hope he makes it.
Unless that person is Terry?
Terry would be ruled out by the use of the phrase “good” people.
Fair enough. 🙂
Terry would be ruled out by the use of the word “people”.
He mentioned ‘good’ among the traits…
unless you consider terry was “good, persistent & strong”
“Good, persistent, strong”?
Terry?
He is very fucking trying though. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Best of luck to the lad, because he’s had fuck all of it so far.
Really feel for him..F**k you Dan Smith
who ever put that thumb down is a twit!
Or his name is Dan Smith.
Therefore, a cunt.
Change Leagues Diaby! Why on earth would he with his frail body which is so Injury Prone Even contemplate getting his career back on track playing in the Premier League. Ligue 1 would be a Much better option for him. More time between games, a Winter break to recuuperate, and the play itself is not nearly as physical as the Premier League. He would actually have a decent chance at remaining fit and make a good career for himself. Instead he choose to continue play for the most injury riddled team in the toughest league in the world. Does not… Read more »
A fit Abou Diaby is a decent midfield option for sure It’s just that a fit Abou Diaby is not something we should ever count on. It’s beyond a joke now, it’s just a sad truth that this guy’s body is fucked. At the end of the day, he’ll be in the squad next season because no one’s going to buy him off us, so hopefully he gets a decent preseason under his belt and can make a contribution. I really do want him to get that at least and my heart says that he’s surely got to have a… Read more »
Why the thumbs down people?
Alex is only being realistic. I hope Diaby is available for next season. I hope he has a blinder and even earns a new contract with us. I hope he realises the obvious potential. I hope all this goodness isn’t at the expense of a WC DM we need.
I hope.
We’ve had the Diaby Debate for years already and everyone pretty much has the same idea, just saying it a bit tactlessly leads people’s thumbs the other way.
You really shouldn’t care much about thumbs, any person at all can even come on here saying Tottenham is great and still get one thumb up.
You’re right, keeping him around and expecting to have him fully fit for a whole season is ridiculous.
But so what? The club’s rich, and his wages aren’t that big. I say, keep him. After all, how many people said we should get rid of RVP and Rosicky when they were both made of glass??? Now look at them. Have some patience my friend. Diaby could be incredible one day, why not just pray and hope.
If anyone’s suited to a “pay as you play” deal it’d be Diaby, if he was happy with such a deal I’d definitely keep him past the end of next season. As you say, a weekly wage deal probably isn’t sensible for us though.
Completely agree with Alex. Feel sorry 4 the guy but sentiment aside he can’t be relied upon anymore. His presence in the squad will also prevent Wenger buying. Sometimes U have to make hard decisions and a strong coach will see this in the case of diaby.
The thumbs down are because a lot of people genuinely feel for the guy and the last thing we want to read is desolate talk about giving up after an article about his personal battle and massive determination.
We all understand full and well what the situation is. I prefer to simply offer my hope and support.
Umm I doubt diaby reads this… I just want what’s best for the club, I want to see us win trophies again. I like diaby as a player but there comes a time when U have to move on. I’m not being mean I just feel its a bit of a ruthless streak we lack as a club sometimes, as seen in other policies at board level. We’ve served the guy well, nurtured him back to fitness, again, and paid him handsomely. Its just my opinion – and mr blogs who I think said in an article a while back… Read more »
Yeah, when my friends pass away I still talk shit about them because they’re not going to read it anyway. Everyone knows what’s going on. People hated Ramsey 2 seasons ago so obviously Arsenal fans understand what it means to be pragmatic. On an article highlighting Diaby’s personal struggles, you should expect the bulk of the comments to be on the article’s main topic and some side-topics like this. Obviously you should also be braced for downvotes in an emotionally-charged thread and should act accordingly if you don’t want to cry “it’s just my opinion” which is usually the lamest… Read more »
Actually, most people who know (including Wenger and the French internationl management) agree that Abou Diaby IS world-class. If he’s looked uncertain or inconsistent when we’ve seen him play the last few years, it’s hardly surprising given his experiences and lack of match time. Of course we don’t know if he’s going to recover that class or is still able to reach the heights he’s shown he could be capable of. There’s only one way to find out… Personally, I agree wholeheartedly with the support the club and the manager have shown him. What’s best for the club isn’t always… Read more »
I work for an environmental consultancy that does a lot of work for the UN. This means traveling and working in some pretty unsafe places, such as Yemen. If something happened to me while i was on the job that prevented me from working for a year (which is very likely, even though we’re just researchers), i would expect to keep my job – and others have. The injuries occurred while Diaby was “on the job” in a field-site that is known to be “dangerous”. I personally applaud Arsenal’s integrity in honouring Diaby’s contract and not trying to force him… Read more »
I have a feeling he will come back stronger, hungrier and would be a huge boost going next season. He has the presence of Yaya Toure, except the composure in front of goal. But we need him, we are still lacking a forceful player in midfield.
To be fair, Yaya Toure didn’t look to have that kind of composure in front of goal until 24 months ago. That’s something good players just pick up with time on the pitch I think, a luxury Diaby hasn’t been afforded.
Ramsey is an excellent example of this.
He will be immense next season. Just like Rosicky. Also great to see him bulked up. He’ll out muscle everyone in the center even more than he used to.
A midfield of Diaby-Ramsey-Ozil can absolutely KILL it next season.
No it can’t guy fawkes because they all play central and none of them can hold, meaning we’d get ripped to shreds on the counter again….
So diaby cant hold? Pray tell me, who can if not him?
Well Arteta or Flamini for a start, though I think that role will eventually be for Wilshere if he can overcome his own injury problems. It’s certainly not Diaby who is 1 million percent an attacking midfielder who plays just off the front. I’ve never seen a case of stereotyping someone by physical size as bad as that of Diaby. He doesn’t have a defensive bone in his body.
Locksley, have U seen diaby play? He’s not a DM
Looking to see Diaby being as pivotal as he (and Arteta) were in the Liverpool away fixture last year.
Fingers crossed for you next season fella.
Diaby; goes out for a year, comes back and plays 1 game and grabs a MOTM award in it. (2-0 vs Liverpool last year). Just goes to show what a great player he is when he’s fit! But it’s not only that, imagine the psychological problems he is ‘supposed’ to have cause he got injured for so long and keeps on getting injured, yet when he comes back he doesn’t show a shred of psychological weakness. I think if we look at Rambo’s first year after coming back and the times when Diaby gets a cameo, then the difference is… Read more »
I’d like to believe he’ll do what Van Persie did (wait for it) and emerge from several injury hell seasons to become one of our most influential players.
But if we’re talking about likelihood, I think we’d all agree the chances of that happening are pretty small.
Rosicky came right. Maybe there is hope. Just not at the expense of a top class signing in his position though…
What an optimistic man.
Inspirational.
From Blogs’ main blog today, has Sagna gone? In the title we say goodbye but not much more on it?
I love you Blogs but please rectify!
I think it’s just the very big letters in between the lines saying ‘I’m off’ maybe ?
I kind of am still clutching at straws then…. Shit….. We need a big, BIG player in every position next year then…….. Certainly: 4/5 in a 4-5-1; maybe we are ok; but I think:
Fab goes: a quality 30 yr old keeper
Sab+Verb goes; replace both senior players.
MIDFILED: A NEW INJURY ANALYSIS PRIOR TO EVERY MATCH! We have the best midfield in the league (not the best player; best players)
Keep Giroud but give him a 40m player + a 15m player for competition….
That’s my take which is very do-able.
If he can stay injury free and get fit during pre-season then there is a chance he’ll do us some good next year,
the problem is the season after a big/long injury is generally all over the place due to minor fitness injuries, Pires, Overmars, RVP every other year,Wilshere, Walcott, Ramsey, Gibbs and Diaby himself have all experienced this with us.
Quite frankly he needs some serious luck and it’s long overdue.
That last paragraph is true. With players rested aftr the WC, Diaby has the chance to be a main man in midfield. Anything can happen after that, just don’t over use him
I hope this guy makes it. It has been a very difficult journey for him. I commend him for not giving up. That would have been the easy way out.
He comes back, lights up the premier league and then…moves to city.
He seems to be a sensible lad, so i doubt he would stab Arsene & Arsenal in the back like that.
Knowing our luck he’ll start the season like an animal, we’ll start to rely on him, extend his contract in January and bang he ruptures ACL on his left knee and is out for the season.
Our season derails and we end up scrapping for 4th again 🙁
I think i prefer your scenario.
Well aren’t you two a ray of sunshine on a Monday.
Probably
Hope he can put his injury problems behind him like Rosicky has. He always comes across as such a decent guy, it really isn’t fair when you look at wasters like Bendtner who are always fit but couldn’t give a toss.
I hope diaby can play a big part for us next season he needs to concentrate on that ! Good luck to him ! But we still need to buy a world class d mid !
He is the classic what could have been story. I really do feel that had he been fit the whole time, he would have made a big enough difference for us to have some silverware.
Whatever happens, he kicked Terry in the face and that is one of the ways to get legendary status!
diaby, diaby, diaby, diabyyyy, he knocked out john terry, diaby, diaby
(to the tune of let it be)
Well if Sunderland win against WBA then our game against Norwich is a dead rubber so hopefully he can get a get some game time to restart his career
Diabys quality as a footballer and his strength of character and determination is of the highest order. The guy has just had an horrendous injury record, all started by that little cunt Dan Smith. I really hope Diaby has seen the last of this terrible run of injuries for his sake and for Arsenal’s as I firmly believe he could be one of the best midfielders in the world.
It also makes me proud that the club as stuck by him through all this. Class.
Wenger for all his faults is pretty fucking loyal. If Diaby comes good it will just hammer Wenger’s class on the wall for all to see.
I don’t wanna be the doom monger but if he breaks down again these words will only serve to hit the nail in Diaby’s career coffin.
I used to love Diaby around 2007, he was out of the world against chelsea in the Carling Cup Final, but unfortunately he never showed consistency, even when he played back-to-back games. He was an amazing talent, but people always felt he lacked vision, so he didn’t find obvious passes, held onto the ball too often, and he never was a defensive player either. He had a world class game in every 5-10, and often went missing in the others. Of course when he was on form, he was unstoppable though, and he probably could have improved if he hadn’t… Read more »
Hope he plays in the Emirates Cup 🙂
Lets hope he gets a good run out at Norwich and a good pre season forget the world cup dream and deam of the prem if he has a good pre season he may be able to help the team next year were the doubt creeps in is some how he will keep getting injured and wenger wont buy another CM hoping he wont.if we dont sign players early in the summer the targets we want will have a great WCup and the price goes up by 5 mill urgency needed be a real tough call to strengthen pressures on… Read more »
punctuation could be your friend
bazza, take a deep breath……
You can only wish him the best. He’s a class player and, as many have already said, who knows what level he could have attained had injuries not blighted his career. Afc have no option but to stand by him and get whatever we can out of him this final season of his contract and then judge it on its merits.
So nice to him back very luck guy he could be of great lad come next season, probably at pre season come fa final.
He would have been a tremendous asset for us in midfield. Somewhere between the CDM role and the link role + attacking midfield.
That said, I’m not sure given injury history that he has as much left in the tank as he hopes for unless it is a slower league perhaps.
Still if we have him firing us for one final season, why not? At very least it’ll make his transfer more lucrative.
ABOU DIABY INJURY/RETURN COMMENTS THREAD DRINKING GAME!!!
Take a shot when someone comments…
-If he can stay fit
-immense
-Liverpool last season.
-He Is a Beast
-Fuck You Dan smith
-He has made 60k a week so fuck his emotions
-Pay as you play
Finish your drink
-He will always be remembered for kicking John Terry In The Head
-Dan Smith is a Cunt
Haha Nice idea. If anyone needs me, I’ll be on the floor.
You forgot
-Wenger won’t buy
And
-random list of unrealistic players to buy
Oh, I guess that’s not really specific to this post, it’s EVERY fucking post. I’d need a liver transplant by Thursday!
You forgot “if fit he’ll be the new Viera”…
If anyone wanders why Gooners love their team, need only to look at how Arsenal have handled the Diaby Debacle.
A team and players with heart, will win any heart. Arsenal is class.
I don’t care what anyone says…for me…Diaby is still to this day one of my top 10 favorite players to wear an Arsenal Jersey..why? I love his style on the ball..his tenacity off the ball…his grace on the pitch is something that I have never seen before…every season I pray to see him play again..please don’t leave the club Abou <3
It’s like the legend of the Phoenix ….abou’s got to Get Lucky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI9c-dRNkho
Who does this for us in the team? Jack comes closest but Diaby when fit is simply a beast.
Diaby is an example of to use faith in case of immense adversity..i hope he comes back and does a ramsey in the community shield
Good man Abou!!! The closest we came to replacing Patrick Viera… His and eduardo`s injuries have been the worst to digest till date
I’ve got this niggling feeling that he will have the season of his life next year. May be force be with you Abou!
It gives me tickles down the spine the though of Abou making his triumphant return. Let’s hope he makes it a great next season…. and maybe?
Game plan for 2014-2015:
Abou rotated for Ramsey roughly once every 5th match based on opposition.
Flamini on the pitch those matches to be sure Abou does not get targeted without retribution.
When he has finally beat the luck, find more time for him!
and here’s to you, abou di-ah-bee,
arsenal loves you more than you will know..
Don’t let us stop you Abou. You tried but the situation can’t continue.