Arsene Wenger admits he has a decision to make over Abou Diaby’s future with the player on the cusp of a return from yet another long spell on the sidelines.
The midfielder, who has played only 84 minutes of first team football in the last two seasons, will be out of contract in the summer and while the boss remains a huge fan of his compatriot’s quality and mentality, he recognises that the 28-year-old still needs to prove he can stay fit.
“By me, yes [a decision has been taken],” Wenger told his pre-Liverpool press conference.
“I had a chat with him and told him how I can envisage the future. He has to make a decision. Of course he understands completely that he has to perform and to show that he can be present on a consistent way.
“I will see where we go from there. I wouldn’t like to go into details, we have to meet again to see where we go from what I told him. It has to be linked a little bit with his presence.”
It’s obviously a heart versus head decision for Wenger. Back in September he said of Diaby: “He is a giant, mentally. To do what he has done, with the severe injuries he had, he comes back every time, is dedicated and he deserves a lot of respect.”
“I am a huge believer in his quality and I am sad as well that he couldn’t show it more. If there is some justice, the future will be much better for him.”
He added in October: “You wonder where Abou gets the strength to come back and work harder and harder and harder.
“When you come in in the morning he’s already in the gym to prepare. He has done extremely well – you cannot fault his attitude at all. You can only admire him for that. He is always in my mind. His first injury at Sunderland in the last minute – that was a huge blow in his career.”
It’s possible the club could offer him a ‘pay-as-you-play’ deal – something of a rarity – however, Arseblog News suspects it more likely that Wenger will flick through his contact book and try and sort Diaby a move to pastures new.
I’ll keep him if I was in a position to make a choice
DIAAABY! DIAAABY!
Me to , if “pay as you play” is an option I dont think it will affect player registration too much , most often we register a bunch of ineexperienced players who arent likely to see any gametime anyway .
Actually, when Wenger says that he has made a decision and now Diaby has to decide whether that’s he wants, to me that has to mean we’re offering him pas-as-you-play. Think about it: if we’re offering that he can train with us until he finds another club, then that’s not exactly something he can say no to, as it isn’t really an offer. And if we’re offering him an extension, that isn’t something he can say no to either, as he’d be a complete fool to do that. So to me, it definitely sounds like we’re offering him pay-as-you-play. That,… Read more »
Me too
Thank god you’re not!
”Pay as you play” can be a problem if you compare the player being paid for 15 games to another who is always fit but not good enough to get into the team with 75k a week or a good player frozen out by the manager.
DAN SMITH IS A CUNT! Huge talent and career ruined needlessly. As for wages.. was priced out of attending a few seasons ago … so dont give a monkeys but give DIABY A STATUE in the pose of him giving john terry a headache..PLEASE.
I really really want him to stay. I just hope we dont give up on him; such a nice guy too. He’d the last of our old crop and hes still got years left in him
I really have to disagree. Yes, he’s been through a nightmare injury wise. Yes he’s a nice guy with a good attitude. But another contract would be ridiculous, especially on the money he is on. Wenger should play this one with his head, not his heart. I even think it would be good for Abou. Maybe join a club in a less physical league. I’ll miss the guy but really think it’s time for everyone concerned to move on.
His injury situation is not so much a league issue. His body needs to heal properly so that he can played like Rosicky or RVP did. Let’s remember that RVP was desperate to get some placent extract injected into his knee but still was able to win a league titile for Manure. Diaby’s injury situation seems worse than Rosicky and the traitor. His case seems similar to Louis Saha, Ledley King, Alan Smith etc… but with his determination, I am sure he can beat this.
The ‘pay as you play’ is the sentimental choice but with squad sizes limited, do we have the space?
We have the space. Right?
We definitely have the space. If you assume Miyachi and Flamini are not given a new contract, and that we sell Pod, that will leave us on a squad of 21 and 13 non-home grown next year.
That includes Joel Campbell & Yaya Sanogo. The U21s don’t need to register, so that is Bellerin, Chambers, Gnabry and maybe Akpom?.
So if we really wanted to push it, we could theoretically sign up Abou plus three other over 21, not home-grown players, and we’d still be OK by the FA rules. (Squad of 25, maximum 18 not home grown).
Oh good, so a ‘pay as you play’ deal could work then (along with couple of new signings).
There’s always room for quality. There’s no harm in offering a pay-as-you-play contract to Diaby. Its win-win if its works out, if not, he moves on. Big deal.
I believe that the he is about to recover from his Rosickyesque plague which means he has a footballing age of 24!
He could do with not playing for Arsenal because of the constant niggly kicking our guys get. I’d just love to see him playing again, you forget what a monster he was in full flight.
Sign da ting!
Dan (mother fucking) Smith, I want to skin that sucker alive for robbing us of arguably one of the best central midfielders the EPL would have ever seen.
No, man. Terrible challenge made nine years ago by a man who was 19 at the time. !9-year-olds are fucking assholes. It was nasty, and yes, it did ruin a truly wonderful player. But Dan Smith has already lost. He might be pathetic enough to be reading this. Just, ugh.
There is quite literally no other player I want to see succeed more. If there is any justice, please let it happen.
Diaby to score winner in championsleague final?
i still dream of this happening every single year
Pay-as-you-play should work. Doesn’t he qualify as homegrown talent even under the new absurd rules? I have no problem with keeping him because unlike seasons past, we are not counting on him to be fit. Keeping him is the kind of class I associate with Arsenal football club. It would be the greatest stories of football if he dominated midfield as we marched onto league glory…he sure has the talent no doubt.
Rosicky came back strong and is still going. Let’s not cast aside quality players if we don’t have to.
Even if Diaby recovers from his injuries the battle scars will never wear and time after time each patched up bone/muscle/tissue will give up on his body.
He can do something delicate….like perhaps pack his bags. Its been long enough. Imagine keeping him on a wage and Rosicky/Walcott leave.
Well – if we can get two seasons out of his wrecked battered legs like we did with the dutch skunk, then DIABY will have even a more profound effect on our prospects than rotten van parsley.
If wasn’t so injury prone he would be one of the top midfielders in the world right now,such a pity
How do you know?
because that was the trajectory that Diaby was on – until the cunting of dan smith – since then when he does get a run he mostly looks like continuing that trajectory
What a load of rubbish, he was no more promising than Denilson and look whats happened to him
If you watched Diaby’s performance against Liverpool two seasons ago, you should know that when healthy, he is far more promising than Denilson ever was.
At that same time, Diaby walked right into the French national team, started, and bossed a match at that level too.
Diaby played 16 times for Les Bleus. 12 times for the under-18. Twice for the under-21. Denilson never played for Brazil at senior level.
During 2009-11 it was universally accepted that the France midfield was being built around him. He was just 23.
We are talking about one game against a mid table Liverpool side, if you watched the game verses Man United where he scored an excellent unopposed headed own goal to win them the game maybe you’d change your mind. It takes more than one game to form a judgement on a players quality and considering that i’ve watched if not all then most of his games for Arsenal, i’ve never rated him much beyond average. As for him bossing it at international level well, he’s played one international tournament, the 2010 World cup where France got knocked out from the… Read more »
would love to see Diaby succeed at Arsenal but realistically I think his best option might be to go to Italy or somewhere he’ll be less likely to have old injuries repeat on him.
It sums up the dichotomy between the aesthetic Arsenal way of approaching the game and the traditional English up-and-at-’em mentality which ensures that wonderful, skilled technicians such as Diaby will always risk their careers by playing here.
He’s injured without playing for 2 years, how is playing in a different league going to help?
He gets injured walking around ffs.
And have you ever seen Italian football? You think EPL defenders are rough? Try watching Chiellini and co.
He is not going to cost us that much, plus there is every chance he will recover and repay the patience given to him by Arsene. Also we should have learned by now what players are capable of once they get rid of those niggles as it was the case for Van Persie and Rosicky. Top guy and talent so we need to show loyalty sometimes as much as we demand it from players.
Either pay as you play or a new contract with reduced value works for me. On his part, he symbolizes a huge mental strength and dedication, while on the club part, its symbolizes the class and humanity value which is a rarity these days.
Unless, he himself decides to stop, which i dont believe he will anytime soon.
Oh, fuck you Dan Smith.
we have new medical staff , who are maiing a difference and actually keeping players fit. it s an amazig change i am beginning to notice. so, with that and also if rosicky could make it, let s give him till January to show he can stay fit. pay as you go deal,if not he can go to a less demanding league (physically)! coyg comeondiaby
Dear god
Please let abou come back to life and feel the void in our heart and play like a monster he once was!
Amen
P.s if he can brake a few shitsea legs while your at it cheers
Don’t fully understand how he’ll count against our player limit if he is signed to another contract, but in the end really just want what is best for him. If he stays at Arsenal odds are he would struggle to find playing time with as deep a squad as we have (and will hopefully be deeper in the DM spot after the Summer window) and he may be content with that, but if he really wants to go somewhere that he can play much more it would be best for him to move on where he can get that chance.… Read more »
He’s not a DM, never has been either.
Getting a new contract would be borderline ridiculous. Its like me being off sick for 2 years and 11 months of a 3 year fixed term contract and expecting a renewal. I’d be too embarrassed to ask.
It’s really not! More accurately it would be like you being a rising star with the potential and skill only a few people in the world possess being made sick as a result of your extremely physically demanding job, then actually finding out that although you’ve had setback after setback trying to get back to the level you were at, your loyal manager decides to keep faith with you hoping your potential can finally be realised.
He’s a human being not a robot, I think it’s a small price to pay just in case he makes it!
And how is what you’ve put different to what I put?
Because your tone makes it sound like he’s milking money out of the club, suggesting he should be too embarrassed to accept a new contract. Whereas I’m saying it wasn’t his fault, and we should stick by him until he calls time because of how rare his talent is.
If there’s any justice in the world the guy will come back and have the career he always promised. Such a huge talent and an inspiration to anyone who’s had to deal with constant setbacks when it comes to injury. Would be such a lift to see him finally put those times behind him. Crossing everything for the lad.
Anybody else singing that Lamar song ? ” If theres any justice in the world, you would be my girl and i would be your man”
Whenever I think of Diaby, I cast my mind back to the Liverpool game in Anfield in 2012, when he absolutely destroyed them playing in alongside arteta. As soon as he got injured that season against Chelsea our season was derailed. He’d be up there with Yaya Toure if he hadn’t got that fucking injury. If only, if only, if only!!!
C’mon, what kind of person who doesn’t love the romance and power of a great come-back story, wouldn’t want this guy to stay and succeed for us. It probably won’t happen, but even if there’s the slightest chance it does, I say keep him.
Let’s kill all this sentimental, sappy, fairytale nonsense. Truth is Diaby hasn’t lived up to the hype…even during the healthy 86 minutes over the past 2 seasons. The writing is on the wall…Diaby has to go!
You have to let him go, everyone complains about supporting people that are on the dole and not working yet you are happy to pay Diabys wages? I think he has been very very unlucky but it happens, let him go a wish him luck, we dont owe him anything.
There’s no risk in offering the Diabster a pay-as-you-play deal. Sign him up, Mister Wenger.
I have a difficulty here coming to terms with most of the guys on here saying. Yah lets sign him up again! How long has he been at the club? How many games has he played? How can anyone maintain a level never mind improve when he is never on the pitch? How much money has he received over his Arsenal career and what does that work out to per minute on the pitch? Sorry guys this is a no brainer…if he is/was so good how come Schity have not made an offer? He has been very well paid in… Read more »
Has he ever been injury free for long enough for $iteh to make an offer?
He was never good enough for City to make an offer.
There’s never been any talk of any top and free spending club ever wanting to sign him, not Real Madrid, not Barcelona, not Juventus, not United, not Chelsea, not City.
When the Arsenal sales were on all our top players were bought by top teams, Cole, Fabregas, Van Persie, and Nasri, we even managed to flog average players like Hleb, Adebayor and Song for top money and still no one would take Diaby and he was reasonably fit between 2009-11!!
Take off the rose tinted glasses!
Your opinion is that he’s not good enough but the fact that no one has tried to buy him isn’t a valid justification for that as he hasn’t been injury free for long enough for anyone to buy him.
Not even a league 2 team can take that risk.
Nonsense, he’s played 180 games for Arsenal since 2006 with only 22 of them being in the last 4 years, so thats 158 games in 5 years. Not a great record but not terrible either at an average of over 30 games a season, more than ample time for clubs to form an opinion of him.
At no point between 2006 and 2011 did ANY big club try and buy Diaby at a time when ALL of our players were for sale, i think that says it all.
He joined us in 06 and got ‘smithed’ the same year. Since then he’s rarely had a run of more than 5 games un-injured (I think he managed nearly 15 un-injured consecutive games in one year) so although he’s had some playing time, it’s rarely been when he’s match fit.
I admit I was surprised when you said 180 games so I checked and that includes substitutions. His best was 09/10 (29PL) when he was still carrying his main injury (partially corrected by surgery the next year) and he was only injured 3 times in the season.
Don’t get me wrong i don’t hate Daiby or think he’s terrible but reading what people are writing on here you would think he was a footballing god, which he clearly isn’t.
People keep on going on about this mythical game verses Liverpool, a game in which he neither scored or created either of the goals and completely forget the other 179 games he’s played. 179 games where he was most of the time average and quite often terrible, and certainly didn’t look world class or even potentially world class.
I’m not arguing whether he’s good enough or not, but to use the argument that no one else tried to buy him when he’s never had an un-injured run that any other club would consider safe to try to buy him is ridiculous. It’s not justification for his quality (or lack of).
I disagree, i believe he was amply fit between 2007-2010 as he played 104 games. A pretty good return for a player between the ages of 20 and 23
If he’d played any continuous runs then that would be decent but he didn’t.
Have a look at this http://www.givemesport.com/337442-abou-diabys-full-arsenal-injury-list and bear in mind that not only was the 1st injury a career threatening one but it wasn’t fully corrected (if it ever has been) for some years. It’s an amazing list of injuries.
It doesn’t make much difference, 40 appearances in one season is pretty continuous in my book and it wasn’t his first injury, he was injury prone before he came to Arsenal.
So a season with 6 injuries including Knee ligament damage is nothing because he played 40 games….. and I guess that in your opinion he was match fit for all those games as well, so you’d get a real understanding of his quality. So if you managed a PL team you’d be happy to buy a player with this injury history If he was good, because he’d been on the pitch for 40 games. I don’t think so, no matter how good he was, the club wouldn’t let you. Since he was ‘smithed’ no sensible club would try to buy… Read more »
40 in a season represents the vast majority of the games we could have played that season so yes I’d expect him to be match fit, unless you’re suggesting he wasn’t fit at all and then we’re talking about him not so much being “Smithed” as you put it but “Wengered” but that’s a different conversation.
I find the anyone even entertaining the idea of paying Abou Diaby to play football completely mental considering his injury record.
Add 6 injuries into a season and there’s no way he player more than 15 games ‘match fit’ that season. Even though he probably got a few MOTM awards in those 15, No club would allow their manager to make an offer that would be acceptable to the selling club, and certainly no ‘big club’! I guess you’ll have to stick to fifa manager for your involvement as (as I understand it) the manager can buy whoever he wants in that game.
i’m not here to speculate and as far as i’m concerned If he wasn’t fit to perform he wasn’t fit to play and perhaps he should have been allowed to recuperate fully before he was played. But as he did play i will assume that he was match fit and performed to the best of his ability and leave the guessing to you.
If we do. And he does. And he can. Then I can’t think of another club in the Premiership that would have.
As Wenger says players are always a gamble.
But wouldn’t it be something special if this one came off.
What?
Arsene has done more than most clubs would do to give him every chance to recover and play football again. But due to no fault of his, it hasn’t happened. Giving him another contract is stretching it in my view.
Besides, we’re over stocked in his position. And I think Joining a club that doesn’t have as many talented midfielders would help him gain game time.
Just my two cents.
Believe me I thought this guy was the and coming of Viera, he was really good.
He should leave.
Post 2009 ish has taught me that players putting on the jersey dont really give a shite about the club, it showed as well. He certainly was one of them.
Only player I genuinely feel for is Rosicky. Partially AW fault for not playing him enough when he’s fit.
Let him go, we’ve done our part.
He must be the fittest injured player in the league by now
I would love to see him recover fully. At 28 he could still give the club 5 years, and if he does get there he could yet be a massive player for us. Sadly I suspect he will probably not make it but I’d love to be wrong.
The decision shouldn’t even be Wenger’s to make. Diaby should be politely told “thank you and goodbye” in May. The Board should already have made it clear to Le Prof that not a single penny more of the club’s money is going to be squandered on this crock. The key sentence in the above article is, “The midfielder, who has played only 84 minutes of first team football in the last two seasons…” No professional club in the world would waste its time and money on a player with this record. Diaby’s football career is a very sad one: he… Read more »
Eggzackerly.
His body’s not up to it. He could be a coach or something but obviously can’t cut it as a player. Not even in a different league, not even in the Abu Dhabi All Star League, as he gets injured whilst being injured.
Diaby when fit is a beast, if he wasn’t so unlucky with some cunt who broke his ankle and destroyed his career i think he would of be better than yaya torue because he is more technical then yaya and he is an excellent dribbler and can fend off players all day long he could have been our new vieira. It’s a shame really, i hope he takes that pay as you play because maybe miracles can happen and we would have him for 3-4 years destroying the opposition midfield.
I watched the game v Sunderland in Linekars bar in Tenerife, after the tackle some of the Sunderland fans said that Diaby was a Southern softy and that it was a nothing challenge, even though you could clearly hear Diaby screaming in agony. Whatever happens, whatever you think about Diaby, you cannot fault his courage and determination to keep on coming back.
I wouldn’t be surprised if le prof kept him
Hold on a minute,
Could all the people on here who shouted from the internets rooftops that
“diaby doesn’t get paid unless he plays”
With ZERO proof over the last few seasons,form an orderly queue and commence with there written apologies,thanks in advance
More fuzzy thinking on this site. Most recent being Tim stillman’s piece. Diaby is a fantastic player but massive question marks over his sustainability So you want Diaby over Flamini? Flamini is a much improved player and one who is readily available, plus bc of age not unwilling to sit out on the bench when necessary. In Fact Arteta should make way given knocks and age. if Diaby can sustain a whole season great but given recent seasons as an example, would you bank on that? We need someone who can come in to cover at DM and add something… Read more »