Abou Diaby is back in training

The Frenchman has been out since the end of March 2013 after he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training. He was due back at the end of last year but suffered a setback in his recuperation, yet another addition to the litany of injuries he's suffered throughout his Arsenal career.

It began, as many will remember, at the Stadium of Light in 2006. With Arsenal 3-0 up and with nothing to play for, Sunderland's Dan Smith launched a horrendous injury-time assault on Diaby's right ankle. It left the Frenchman with a fractured and dislocated joint -- such was the severity of the damage that Arsenal considered legal action.

Instead of being part of a squad that traveled to Paris to take part in the Champions League final, Diaby ended up in surgery, plaster, recovery and rehab. It's clear that such tackles would do tremendous damage to a player but twice more, at the feet of Michael Essien and Bolton's Paul Robinson, he's been on the receiving end of challenges that have wrecked his chances of playing consistently.
Because of the damage caused by the initial fracture and dislocation, plus the attendant muscular issues that arise, Diaby's career has been punctuated by spells on the sidelines. Indeed, he's a player better known for off than on-pitch achievement.

Not in the same way as some, mind you. There's never been bad behaviour, ill discipline, rubbing his belly off a taxi or any of the countless other escapades that see footballers end up in the headlines for what they do when they're not playing. It's just that the sheer regularity with which he's been injured has become what he's associated with.

It's a shame because he is or could have been -- it's sad to write that -- a really fantastic player. He's scored some eye-catching goals and although he took longer to mature than others, simply because of the spells on the treatment table preventing him from playing, it was obvious the talent was there.

Last season, when he'd had a good preseason fitness campaign for the first time in an age, he put in the kind of display against Liverpool at Anfield which showed why Arsene Wenger continued to have faith in him despite all those injuries. He knew if he could keep him fit he had a tremendous player on his hands, but sadly that wasn't to be.

Some will bemoan the presence of a guy in the squad who picks up his wages and doesn't play, but he's no Winston Bogarde. Behind the scenes he has undergone the most painful rehab regimes and left no stone unturned when it comes to finding a solution to his problems.

He's not content to get paid; he wants to play football and people should put themselves in the player's sporting, if not financial, shoes. There are players who play each week and pick up wage packets from clubs their performances don't merit, so it seems churlish to criticise a player who has worked as hard and professionally as possible to be fit for Arsenal.
With a contract expiring in 2015, I'd suggest that his time at the Gunners is coming to a close. Another extension is simply a gamble too far, even for a manager with as much loyalty toward his players as Wenger.

Even if Diaby does manage to play again this season or next, there will always be a feeling of what might have been.