The “club versus country” row is always a touchy subject amongst managers and it appears as though Arsene Wenger is absolutely furious with the French FA for their treatment of Abou Diaby. Wenger says that the country should not have selected the midfielder in their recent games due to his incredible fitness concerns over the past year.
The 26-year-old has recently been ruled out for the next three weeks and Wenger has blamed his country for the injury. He says that he was more than happy for Diaby to feature in the upcoming international against Spain, but says it was simply too much to expect the former Auxerre to play in the games against Finland and Belarus last month. He claims it was these games that hampered Diaby’s fitness chances after he limped off in the recent defeat against Chelsea.
Speaking to the media, Wenger said, “I think it was a mistake to play him with the national team. I said many times that if France wanted Diaby in Spain they should not take him for Finland and Belarus. They could have taken him but not played him because the guy has been out for a year, played four or five games. You have a breather, give him two weeks to recover completely.”
There’s no doubt that the Gunners are going to miss Diaby’s influence incredibly over the next few weeks, with the player reminding fans of his importance following several impressive performances over the opening games of the season.
Few people could argue with the fact that Wenger had every right to be riled by France’s disregard for Diaby’s fitness as well, with the player renowned for his injury troubles after managing just 87 starts in the Premier League following his switch to the club in 2006. Hopefully, this latest one isn’t a sign of things to come for the rest of the campaign.
