DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

There’s been a lot of talk about Abou Diaby as he resurfaced to play a reserve game. This is a player who was going to be part of Arsene Wenger’s post Invincibles brave new world but has become something of a symbol of failure, however, it is probably more about him being symbolic of the Manager’s flawed vision and inflexibility. There have been those occasions when he has looked like the world beater of a captain that we lost in 2005, yet in other instances he has been pedestrian and wasteful. Such has been the desire for him to be a Vieira –a-like that all manner of expectation has been placed upon him. It is absolutely not his fault that his career has been blighted as a result of out and out thuggery, nor is it his fault that Wenger has not found Patrick Vieira’s replacement. Eduardo and Ramsey also suffered from assaults and a great deal of empathy has rightly gone their way but not so for Diaby, even though he knocked out John Terry.

For many the names Denilsen and Diaby go hand in hand but this is a little unfair. Denilsen had many chances and proved to be adequate at best, each time Diaby had a run in the team any progress was curtailed by injury.Arsene believed that the future was Bendtner, Diaby, Denilsen, Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie shaped but half were sold and half flattered to deceive, yet Abou is basically last man standing of Wenger’s gamble. It's not a comeback it's more of a reminder.

At 27 he has a good few years in him if he remains injury free but can a player recapture their best days after so much interruption? As modern football is a squad game some might say he deserves a shot, and certainly it appears that he has just got on with rehabilitation without Selfies, braggadocio or any other distractions so I say give him that shot, but with a caveat: there is no room for sentiment-perform or move on.