{"id":1335,"date":"2026-05-06T07:42:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/razak.com.ng\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:42:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:42:51","slug":"many-would-have-liked-to-be-in-my-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/?p=1335","title":{"rendered":"“Many would have liked to be in my place”"},"content":{"rendered":"


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And May 1, 2006<\/strong>in Sunderland<\/strong>the career of Abou Diaby <\/strong>It started to twist. The French midfielder, recently arrived at Arsenal <\/strong>and with barely 19 years<\/strong>suffered a very hard entrance <\/strong>of Dan Smith <\/strong>in added time. The result was a fracture <\/strong>of ankle<\/strong>, of the<\/strong>followed operations <\/strong>y eight months off the playing field<\/strong>. That blow deprived him of last match <\/strong>of the history of Highbury <\/strong>and, above all, the final of the Champions<\/strong>League <\/strong>before him Barcelona<\/strong> in it Stade <\/strong>of France<\/strong>a few kilometers from where he had grown up.<\/p>\n

Almost twenty years later, Diaby <\/strong>has reappeared in an extensive report by The Team <\/em><\/strong>to review a career marked by talent<\/strong>, Arsenal<\/strong>, Wenger<\/strong>\u2026and the injuries<\/strong>. \u201cI wasn’t even supposed to come back<\/strong>“, remembers about that first serious injury<\/strong>. From there, his time in London became a succession of returns and relapses<\/strong>: more than 40 injuries<\/strong>, almost four years of accumulated sick leave<\/strong> y more than 300 games lost<\/strong>according to the French newspaper.<\/p>\n

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\"Abou<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
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Abou Diaby’s injuries<\/span>Alberto Rubio Garcia<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite everything, the French <\/strong>He does not speak from resentment. The former French international assures that he does not live in what could have been. \u201cI have no regrets<\/strong>“, he admits. His way of looking back is different: “Playing football is an opportunity<\/strong>. Many would have wanted to be in my place<\/strong>“A phrase that summarizes the serenity with which he faces the story of a career that could have been enormous, but that was affected by injuries too early.<\/p>\n

Kind words towards Wenger<\/h2>\n
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\"Arsene<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
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Arsene Wenger at Arsenal<\/span>CHEMA REY PHOTO<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He ex <\/strong>of the Arsenal <\/strong>He also left words of huge love <\/strong>toward Arsene Wenger<\/strong>the coach who opted for him when he was able to sign for the Chelsea<\/strong>. Diaby remembers that Mourinho <\/strong>He explained that he was looking for a mediocentro<\/strong>but Wenger <\/strong>was much more direct<\/strong>: if I went to Arsenal<\/strong>, would play<\/strong>. \u201cThere was no color,\u201d he confesses. About the technician alsaciano<\/strong>the Frenchman assures that he owes him much more than minutes: \u201cIt gave me the opportunity to grow in the club and as a man.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay with what you experienced<\/h2>\n

Diaby, who also passed through Olympic <\/strong>of Marseilles <\/strong>before retiring in 2019<\/strong>prefers to stay with what he experienced. with his European debut <\/strong>before him Real Madrid <\/strong>of Ronaldo<\/strong>, Zidane <\/strong>y Roberto Carlos<\/strong>; with the Arsenal <\/strong>of Cesc<\/strong>, Van Persie<\/strong>, Rosicky <\/strong>o Cazorla<\/strong>; and with a clear idea: his story was not that of the footballer who could not be, but that of someone who learned to rebuild himself every time his body told him enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And May 1, 2006in Sunderlandthe career of Abou Diaby It started to twist. The French<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}