Arsenal's Abou Diaby's career was ruined by horror tackle

Abou Diaby was once regarded as Patrick Vieira’s successor at Arsenal.

However, the midfielder had possibly the worst luck when it came to staying fit and it’s claimed he suffered 42 serious injuries during his time at the club.

Diaby joined Arsenal in 2005 but left 10 years later having played just 124 times.

One of the worst injuries Diaby sustained during his career came towards the end of the 2005/06 season. Arsenal were 3-0 ahead against Sunderland in the final minute of the match when Diaby was caught by a horror tackle from Sunderland’s Dan Smith.

Diaby could be heard screaming in pain as referee Dermot Gallagher showed Smith just a yellow card.

How it wasn’t a red card is mindblowing.

Just weeks before Arsenal’s Champions League final, Diaby’s career was under threat. He had to undergo three surgeries and eight months of rehabilitation.

He was never the same player again no matter how many times he tried to return.

After the match, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he was willing to ‘sue’ Smith for his tackle.

Wenger described Smith’s challenge as one of “wicked stupidity” and said: “If you do that to a guy in the street you go to jail.”

He added: “The guy who harms you in life has to be punished. I am very upset and very disappointed with the tackle. Having watched it again I just feel I will not leave this case there because there was bad intention in the tackle.

“There was only one intention in this tackle – to hurt the player – and it’s a career-threatening tackle. I will take legal advice to see how far I can go.”

Many years later, Diaby was still struggling with injuries and Wenger couldn’t hide his disappointment at how his career had panned out.

“He is a player that I have an enormous amount of