Diaby out for 8 to 9 months

Abou Diaby will be out for up to nine months after he injured his knee in training today. Scans revealed that the Frenchman has torn his anterior cruciate ligament and will undergo surgery on the injury shortly.

Diaby arrived at Arsenal in January 2006 from French club Auxerre. Unfortunately since his arrival he has suffered from many injuries, which have halted his progression at the club. Arsene Wenger has shown a lot of faith in Diaby over the years and time and time again he has gotten injured.

My thoughts: Whilst of course I do sympathise with Diaby for being so unlucky with injuries, you can only put up with it for so long. You can’t rely on Diaby to stay fit for an entire season, this is his second long-term injury of the season. Wenger has often kept his money in his pocket when it comes to transfers because Diaby was set to come back from an injury, only to get injured again.

I understand there is talent there with Diaby. If Dan Smith (Sunderland player that gave him the first of many major injuries) hadn’t have done that, you never know, we might be talking about our present captain and maybe he would have lived up to the billing of being ‘the next Patrick Vieira’.

I feel for the lad, I really do, but I am struggling to see a way back into the team for Abou now. I would expect Wenger to go and buy a replacement this summer and by the time Diaby returns he may well struggle to get back in the team. I have expected this many times from Wenger in the past though.

I’m not sure when Diaby’s current contract runs out. It was signed in January 2010 and it was described as ‘long-term’. If it was four years, we could let Diaby’s injury heal and he could stay for half of next season before becoming a free agent. Of course that is assuming it was a four-year deal. I’m sure it will all come out nearer the time.

Whilst Diaby is talented, surely after 7 years of sitting on the treatment table, it is time to let him go and accept defeat. The same could go for somebody like Tomas Rosicky. He joined in the summer of 2006 and has been very unlucky with injuries too, but they happen too often.

Diaby and Rosicky… that’s a lot of money spent in wages over the last 7 years on players that spend more time in the treatment room than they do on the pitch.

It goes without saying that I wish Diaby all the best for his recovery, but a lot of Arsenal fans are beginning to get frustrated and I can certainly understand why.

Diaby will be out for up to 9 months with his latest injury.