According to the Birmingham Mail, West Bromwich Albion are exploring the possibility of signing Abou Diaby.
The France international was released by Arsene Wenger at the start of July after nine years at Arsenal and is currently looking for a club ahead of the new season.
The 29-year-old midfielder was recently linked with a move to MLS outfit FC Dallas and isn’t thought to be short of suitors despite his well documented injury problems.
Arsene Wenger recently revealed his sadness at the fact fitness problems – he’s made only 22 appearances in four years – have plagued Diaby’s career.
“I’m very sad because this boy is a massive and a huge talent,” he told Arsenal.com. “It’s sad as well because he didn’t deserve what he got.”
He added: “He was the closest to Patrick Vieira we have seen here, with even a good offensive potential. In France, he’s regarded highly because every time he played in the French national team he made a difference.”
Arseblog News obviously hopes Abou sorts a new gig soon…that being said, the prospect of him teaming up with Tony ‘capped grandad’ Pulis does have us raising one concerned eyebrow.
Good luck to him there if it happens, glad it appears he is getting decent offers to play.
Hope he doesn’t play and star against us though!
If it happens, it happens.
would be almost mildly funny if he puts in a stellar performance for them at the emirates. i am 100% sure the crowd will give him an amazing reception too.
Will be nice if it does happen and maybe he can give that cunt terry another headache. Good luck abou.
Hopefully they do not Ponder too hard, might hurt him
Hard to read if this is sarcasm or not, SuperNova… I feel for Diaby but still, this is quite funny if you have a sense of humor. Won’t stop the thumb down I’m giving you right now though.
A very derisive way to speak about a player whose time at the club saw him play with distinction when fit.
Hope he doesn’t have a good game against us.
God, let it happen! He deserves better.
Would be nice for him to be playing in the premier league.
With his luck he would be injured all the time except when it is time to play against us. Then he will have a brilliant game against us…
Great news that he has offers good luck Abou.
I really hope this is true. If it happens then good luck to him.
I would love to see him play top level football for a few years.
Abroad all the way for me. May be this is a tad selfish but I wouldn’t want us to face fit Diaby in the League. Not that West Brom would win anyway but just Diaby lining up with the opposition.
Diaby has always looked like a hugely talented player to me, but injuries have clearly been an awful problem for him. WBA do have an exceptional medical team, who may be able to coax more game time out of him than their Arsenal counterparts have managed. West Brom have beaten Arsenal just twice in league games since 2005 and goalscorers in those victories included Nwankwo Kanu and Jerome Thomas. However, Hartson and Anelka didn’t manage to score when they played for Albion against Arsenal, so I wouldn’t worry too much about ex-Gunners scoring for WBA against Arsenal becoming trend!
Could Diaby have been an exceptional player without the countless injuries, maybe? Would he also have been sold at the peak of his career, definitely. I believe Wenger is a genius and every thing he’s achieved especially during our Financial Nadir affirms this, but only thing we lost from diaby was maybe 40mil post one peak season and the countless hypocritical fans calling him a traitor. After 2 straight years out with injuries, its almost impossible for a youngster to regain PL fitness, jack would tell you. At 29, he’s PL campaign is OVER, he’s better off in a lower… Read more »
Had it ever occurred to you that the player that are being called traitors deserve it because they forced they way out? What van persie did was disgusting (especially with regards to the picture of him as a little boy in the Arsenal shirt), and fabregas behaviour was quite hypocritical. And don’t let me even get started on players such as adebayor, his ‘career’ speaks for himself.
Having being injured for a long period, Diaby’s footballing age is way lower than 29. (as Rosicky would tell you…)
I feel that he still has much to offer. We have heard time and again that Diaby has worked hard to get back to fitness. If a PL club signs him, it’ll give him a great opportunity to restart his career. Now why would anyone be against that?
This is great news. But for games against us, maybe Abou should sit them out like a loanee. Although I don’t think this would be a popular opinion, as he might be more up for them compared to others.
Tony ‘capped grandad’ Pulis? as opposed to Arsene ‘knackered zip pulling big coat wearing grandad’ Wenger? 😉
It’d be nice to see him get the opportunity to kick John Terry in the head again….
Would love to see him get a run of fitness and form for his own sake, but have to admit I’d be envious of that happening somewhere other than at Arsenal.
I can help but think about how this situation shows how classy our midfield and club are. I was perfectly fine with Diaby leaving. We have multiple top class mids with too many promising youngsters that need caps.
That all said, Abou makes it into any other premier league team when healthy. I personally wish someone like Southampton would pick him up to try to dislodge either Manchester team from 4th this year!
If this happens, I’ll be very happy. He’ll add some style to WBA. I hope he hope he gets to play at a top level for years to come.
This is bollocks. Wenger clearly is going to sign him at the end of the window. Enough with LANS, it’ll be ANS!
Diaby: ‘Knock, knock’
Pulis: “Who’s there?”
Diaby: “Abou”
Pulis: “Abou who?”
Diaby: “Hey, I’ve just left Arsenal for WBA, I should be the one crying.”
Ha ha ha. Joke of the day. I like it
Hope Diaby signs for a club, gets fit and absolutely kills it next season.
Would be amazing to see him get another call up to the France squad and have an impact in the 2016 Euros.