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Arsene Wenger is willing to allow Abou Diaby access to Arsenal’s training ground to work on his fitness after being officially released by the club. The Arsenal manager was rumoured to be ready to offer the French midfielder a pay-as-you-play deal, but decided against it and in a show of good faith, has offered Diaby the chance to train with the club while he looks for a new one.
Diaby, who turned 29 in May, has not played a competitive game for the Gunners since his start in the 1-2 Capital One Cup defeat to Southampton. He joined Arsenal in 2006 after two injury-hit seasons in Auxerre, where he was deemed surplus to requirements by the management. He made 180 appearances for Arsenal, but never really came close to fulfilling the potential that drew comparisons to Patrick Viera.
The lanky box-to-box midfielder is adept both offensively and defensively, but is less aggressive and more of a dribbler, unlike Viera. Since breaking his ankle after Sunderland’s Dan Smith tackled him in 2006, he has been battling minor injuries constantly, and has attempted several comebacks in his career, though none of them him a sustained run in the team.
His best year probably came in the 2009-10 season, when he played 40 out of 55 competitive Arsenal matches. He has represented France 16 times, scoring once, and was also part of the French squad in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, starting in all three group stage fixtures.
Wenger has enormous respect for Diaby
Wenger has offered many of his former players the chance to use the club’s facilities in the past, including the likes of Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry, and Jens Lehmann, who all ended up signing deals with the club after impressing Wenger. This means that Wenger still sees something in Diaby, and might even offer him a chance to play for Arsenal again if he can prove that he has something to offer.
When asked about Diaby’s plight in an interview with beIN Sports last November, Wenger said: “He is a player that I have an enormous amount of respect for. Every time he comes back, he has to start from zero with another injury. He was a victim of competition.”
“A footballer needs his ankle. He was destroyed by a bad tackle at Sunderland six or seven years ago which altered his ankle. He is not a fragile player. He was the victim of an assassin’s tackle that went unpunished,” he added.
Arsenal are now reportedly in talks with Mikel Arteta and Theo Walcott over extending their contracts, as they ready themselves for a title tilt next season following the signing of Petr Cech.
