Abou Diaby to Olympique Marseille: Latest Transfer Details, Comments, Reaction

Would-be Arsenal great Abou Diaby has opted to return to his native Ligue 1 after it was announced on Tuesday that Marseille had won the race for his services. 

The club revealed Diaby had signed for the club following his release from the Emirates Stadium earlier this summer, with ESPN FC providing confirmation of the move in English:

The former Auxerre midfielder cut ties with the Gunners in June, bringing an end to his nine-year association with the north Londoners, a sign the club had finally given up on his once great potential.

The midfielder made a total of 180 appearances for Arsenal, an average of 18 games per season, and Matt Spiro of the Ligue 1 Show reported earlier this week Diaby would sign for Les Olympiens on a pay-as-you-play deal:

The 29-year-old arrived in England as one of the most promising players in European football, a box-to-box asset who had rightly earned comparisons with fellow Arsenal alumnus Patrick Vieira.

That promise was never realised, though, as chronic injury woes curtailed his development, with former mentor Arsene Wenger speaking of his disappointment upon seeing Diaby leave the club, per the official Arsenal website:

"

It’s one of the saddest moments for us at Arsenal not to have had the opportunity to get the best out of Abou Diaby because of injury. I’m very sad because this boy is a massive and a huge talent. It’s sad as well because he didn’t deserve what he got. It’s sad as well because he’s a very serious player.

He was always at home every night, prepared well every day and was not rewarded. I hope he will be rewarded somewhere else in the final years of his career. He was the closest to Patrick Vieira we have seen here, with even a good offensive potential. In France, he’s regarded highly because every time he played in the French national team he made a difference. It is very sad.

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Matt Morlidge of the Daily Mail reported Diaby's exact number of injuries as being 42 in all, resulting in more than four years of action missed while on the sidelines.

Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa is renowned as a shrewd tactical mind, but the question remains as to whether he can squeeze any fortune out of the injury-prone playmaker.