5 Arsenal players whose careers were cut short by injury

Arsenal through the years have been known for their exciting brand of attacking football. Under Arsene Wenger, they have historically been an offensive unit who press high up the field and have produced some scintillating bit of play in the final third. There is another thing they have been nefarious about- major injury problems to their players. With reports stating that Arsenal players have suffered almost 900 injuries in 12 years.

The club developed a reputation for always having a player out for the long-term more often than not. Whether it could be attributed to their training regime, their brand of football or purely down to rotten luck is tough to say. They did improve on the injury front in the tail end of Wenger's helm at the club, but nonetheless had a long list of players whose careers were cut short due to this problem

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Tomás Rosicky

A great player for both club and country, Tomas Rosicky was known for his ability to orchestrate play from the midfield.

He made 170 appearances for Arsenal and scored 19 goals for them, through a period of 10 years. His contribution could have been so much more if not for his constant dealings with serious injuries.

He infamously suffered a serious knee injury in the January of 2008, which led him to not only miss the rest of that season but the entirety of the next. He then suffered through minor injury setbacks in the next two seasons before becoming a long-term absentee again in the 2012-13 season.

Arsenal fans saw him in bits and pieces again in the coming campaigns, before he was injured again in the 2015-16 season through another knee problem. At the end of that season, his departure from the club was announced and he received a guard of honour in his final Premier League match.

A player whose quality was unquestionable and who could have given so much more to the club if not for his horrific dealings with injuries. Rosicky retired from professional football in December 2017.

Abou Diaby

What might have been for Abou Diaby?

A player whose footballing style and quality evoked comparisons to fellow Frenchman Patrick Viera; it was surely disheartening to see Diaby's career being ravaged by injuries.

The towering central midfielder could make only 124 appearances for Arsenal in the 9 years that he spent at the club. Diaby suffered a severe ankle fracture early in his Arsenal career that many have said paved the way for future injuries and ruined his career.

Surely enough Diaby has been massively unlucky with injuries and has been known to have had suffered from nearly every injury in the book. He never could go on a decent playing run at Arsenal and was regularly injured throughout his playing career.

An eye-catching enforcer in midfield who could attack as well as he could defend, many have wondered what could have been had it not been for his injuries. Diaby was released by Arsenal in June 2015, and after featuring a bit for Marseilles is currently a free agent.

Santi Cazorla

Cazorla will be remembered as an Arsenal great

The Spaniard's initial years at the club when he arrived from Malaga were highly impressive. He became almost the perfect fit into Arenal's playing style and became an instrumental player in their ranks. He went on to make 129 appearances in 4 years before a career-threatening injury prevented him from playing any further part at the club.

Injury problems had begun to appear in the 2015-16 season where he missed 20 games due to a knee issue. But it was the injury sustained in a Champions League fixture in October 2016 that led to an end of his Arsenal career. He eventually went on to have 8 surgeries and even at a time faced the danger of being amputated.

His contract ended at the end of 2017-18 season and he left the club to join Villarreal where he finally featured in a match after the gap of 636 days.

Cazorla no doubt, is etched into Arsenal's folklore with his contributions but could have had a better send off to his career at the club had it not been for his injury.

Jack Wilshere

Wilshere left Arsenal with the departure of Wenger

Wilshire is perhaps the most significant of names from the list of young Arsenal players who showed immense potential at a young age but could never truly make a mark at the cub due to their injuries. Wilshire caught the footballing world's eye in the 2008-09 season, coming on as a 16-year-old player in the EPL and subsequently in the Champions League.

His performances showed massive quality and he quickly became a starter at the club, while also being poised to be the future of England's midfield.

His injury problems started in the 2011-12 season. He had 4 major injuries in that season where his return only led to him going back to the treatment table. This carried over to the next season and to the next. Wilshire soon became an irregular feature in the side whose name was never too far off from the absentee list.

Still only 26, Wilshire has spent recent seasons on loan and has finally moved on from Arsenal. He has had better luck with injuries as well in the past seasons and might still turn to be a decent player for his country. But the sky-high expectations that the midfielder had built at his club seems a distant memory.

Robin van Persie

Van Persie was at times a one-man team

Arsenal fans might argue that Van Persie's time at the club was cut short by his decision to join Manchester United rather than injuries. It could not be argued that the Dutchman was one of the most injury-prone players at the club in his time.

'When fit, will score' were the words used to describe Van Persie for his brilliance in front of the goal while fighting his constant injury problems. Van Persie scored 96 goals for Arsenal in 194 appearances and he did this while almost always being out for some part of the season.

While his injury disruptions were regular since his initial years at the club, the 2009-10 and 2010-11 was particularly troublesome for the striker where he missed the majority of those campaigns. What followed though were the best couple of seasons in van Persie's career, where he first ended up as top scorer at Arsenal with 30 goals, then moved over to Man United to be their top scorer in a title-winning season.

While still considered to be one of the best strikers to have graced the Premier League, Van Persie displayed just what he could have accomplished in an injury free season. Arsenal might have had so much more had Van Persie managed more such seasons at the club.