Denilson, Song, Diaby: What Do We Do With Them?

No doubt that all three of these players are talented but the thing that they all lack is consistency. Granted they are still young and might not have had the luxury of being surrounded by experienced players like Fabregas did. With the departure of players like Flamini and Gilberto in the middle these three youngsters were called up to be made a part of the first team.

Let's get the basics out of the way first. Both Song and Denilson played over 30 games, Denilson being the first choice to play alongside Fabregas. Song, however, got a long spell in the starting line up with the injury to Fabregas. Diaby who a little fewer games was the top scorer of the three with a lowly three goals.

Denilson first, he started out the season with hopes of being Gilberto's replacement as a holding midfielder. No doubt we all had high hopes for him but his aggressiveness was lacking for a player in that position. He got pushed off the ball too easily and gave away possession just as easily.

The saving grace being the confidence he gained as the season went on. He started passing the ball a lot better and also kept possession better. At 21 years old, he is slightly under the average age of this Arsenal team and with a little more time he might just become the type of holding midfielder Gilberto was.

Song has made the most progress of the three. At the start of the season I remember thinking to myself: why is he even here? And I was right to think that way because his performances were terrible. He refused to pass the ball forward and always passed it sideways instead.

However, towards the end of the season we saw some great passes from him, the highlights being the nice little chip that set up Eduardo's amazing goal against Burnley and the back heel to set up Eboue shortly after in that match. His work ethic improved a lot and instead of being the lazy, unconfident player he was, he started being more aggressive on and off the ball and started playing harder. That effort he put in did help him improve so much more. Being the same age as Denilson there definitely is a lot of room for improvement to Song's game.

Diaby is the most confusing out of the three. He definitely has the skill and trickery to be a flashy player but he doesn't work hard, is barely consistent, and lazy. No doubt his three goals, as low the number have been very impressive. Some other positives are his shooting, he has some powerful shots and can shoot well with both feet.

His trickery is a joy to watch at times as well, Aston Villa being his favorite target this season. If he can use these effectively (and by effective I don't mean doing countless stepovers in wide open space ... Cristiano ...) he can pose a big threat going forward. Another downside is his injury proneness and we saw how easily he got injured this season. He came back for a game and was injured for two weeks. At 23, he is the oldest of the three and isn't getting any younger. Players like Nasri and Walcott are younger and have made their mark on the team. It's about time Diaby did too.

If I had to choose to keep one of the three I'd choose Song because he's really improved a lot and has learned from his experiences and will definitely become a great player with some more work.