da bet vitoria： Following his first appearance for Arsenal in nearly two years, a Capital One Cup outing against Southampton, Arsene Wenger revealed his plans to reinvent eternally-crocked Frenchman Abou Diaby as a holding midfielder.
da heads bet： “I tried to develop [Diaby] in a deeper role, I think he can do it. He can be very interesting because he has all the attributes to do it,” Wenger informed reporters. “After, he must love it as well because he’s more of an offensive-minded player. I try to transform him because he was injured for a long time and he has the physical potential to win the challenges. To face the game will be easier for him than to play with his back to goal with the injuries he had.”
There are certainly some positives to take from this news. Particularly, Arsene Wenger appears to be accepting the intrinsic need for more holding options in his midfield. Mikel Arteta offers great quality in possession, Mathieu Flamini a fantastic work-rate off the ball, but both lack the natural physicality required to contest the power and strength of Chelsea and Manchester City in the middle of the park.
Measuring at 6 foot 3, blessed with relative pace and brawn, Diaby is capable of providing it, although the level of effect injuries have had on his mobility remains to be seen.
Yet, pessimistically, one can already envisage the 28 year-old’s potential performances in the holding role becoming a justification for a new contract in the summer, and Wenger deciding against investing heavily in one of the many coveted defensive midfielders, such as Sami Khedira, Lars Bender or Morgan Schneiderlin, recently linked with an Emirates move.
Diaby may be a decent option until the end of the season, seeing as, for whatever reason, Wenger had little interest in signing a holding midfielder this summer, but he can’t be considered a long-term solution to an intrinsic flaw within Arsenal’s squad that’s existed since Alex Song left for Barcelona two years ago.
And we are talking about a player who has endured no less than 40 injures since his debut for Arsenal in 2006, the most recent being an eighteen-month sideline stint with a cruciate knee ligament injury. In that time, he’s managed only 124 Premier League appearances, averaging out at just 14 per season.
Fully developing Diaby as a defensive midfielder, teaching him the tactical discipline and defensive awareness required, will take at least a couple of years, and there are no guarantees – in fact, history suggests completely otherwise – that he’ll remain in clean health for such a period. At which point, the midfielder will be the wrong side of 30 and beyond his footballing peak.
There’s also something remarkably illogical about attempting to utilise a habitual member of Arsenal’s injury list in the most physically-demanding area of the pitch. Tough tackles and robust challenges will be compulsory, yet the former France international is only ever one away from ruling himself out of contention for extended periods.
This isn’t Diaby’s first reinvention either; unquestionably more natural as an attacking force, he’s been tested in central midfield, on the left wing and as a No.10 by Wenger before with mixed results. A combination of turbulent performances and season-ending injuries has seen the 28 year-old fail to make any role his own. At this point, there’s little to suggest moving him deeper into midfield will pan out any differently.
You can understand Wenger’s temptation. He’s continually stood by the midfielder throughout his injury problems and to paraphrase the Arsenal boss, Diaby has shown enormous mental strength by refusing to hang up his boots. It’s an unfortunate situation that’s cost the club wages and resources and Diaby the best years of his career; both the Gunners and the 28 year-old deserve something positive to come out of it, even if at the compromise of a change in position.
Optimists will argue that the Gunners stuck it out with Robin van Persie during six years of continuous injury as well as Tomaz Rosicky, who once looked like he’d never kick a ball again, and eventually, Arsenal reaped the benefits of their loyalty.
In regards to Diaby however, it feels like flogging a dead horse. And placing faith in a 28 year-old who hasn’t played regular football since 2010 is an incredibly risky strategy. One certainly struggles to envisage a similar situation coming into fruition at any other of the Premier League’s top four clubs.
I’m sure that rather taking a gamble on the crocked midfielder Arsenal fans would much prefer to see their manager invest properly in a department that’s required strengthening for the last two seasons. After all, even if Diaby proves useful as a holding midfielder, he’s still not the specialist Arsenal desperately need in that role.
And although it feels as heart-breaking as telling a toddler there’s no such thing as Father Christmas, with his contract set to expire at the end of the season, it’s probably time the Gunners gave up on Diaby.
It could be worse Nando, you could be one of these guys…
[ffcvideo file=”TopFiveVideosoftheWeek” type=”mp4″]