In ten long seasons at Arsenal, French midfielder Abou Diaby averaged fewer than 13 Premier League appearances per year and made just 16 in his final four seasons with the club due to numerous injuries. Now that he’s healthy at last, Diaby is ready to resume his football career at Marseille.
According to ESPN FC, Diaby is expected to make his debut for the Ligue 1 outfit in this week’s Coupe de France match against Trelissac. He has been added to the 19-member matchday squad for the first time since joining the club last summer after being released from Arsenal.
Should Diaby appear in the match, the appearance will mark 506 days since he played 66 minutes of Arsenal’s 2-1 Capital One Cup loss to Southampton in September 2014.
Marseille manager Michel said on Wednesday in his his prematch news conference that Diaby had made significant improvement during his training sessions and was working extra hard with the medical staff to get into playing fitness
“I spoke with him after training,” Michel said. “He knows it will be difficult to be able to play a lot of minutes in the next matches but he feels ready and is available.
“To start a match you really need one month of training. But after two weeks of training with the other players, he can be in the squad.
“The morale aspect is also important for the player. It’s also a display of confidence that we’re giving him.”
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