10 Players Who Didn't Fulfil Their Potential At Arsenal

5. Abou Diaby

Still at the North London club, Abou Diaby is now the Gunners' longest serving player since joining in 2006. Despite spending eight years at the club, he has managed just a measly 179 appearances in a career that has been so cruelly riddled with injury problems. Multiple injuries aside, however, Abou Diaby has still never shown much more than fleeting glances as to why he drew comparisons to Patrick Vieira in his youth career. Given his height and build, Diaby has always been expected to be a fairly powerful midfield general. In reality he has very rarely been able to dominate a midfield battle, something that Vieira was considerably better at. With neither the range of passing to help him fit the Arsenal mould, nor the physical presence to provide the brute force to Arsenal's beauty, Diaby has just never found his plce in the Arsenal setup. It is admittedly harsh to comment on a career that has been so affected by injury, and some optimistic Gunners fans may speculate on what sort of player Diaby could have become had he not been so stricken. The fact still remains that Diaby has never shown why he was likened to Arsenal legend Vieira, though, and whatever potential he may have had has certainly never been fulfilled on the pitch.