Vassiriki Abou Diaby (born 11 May 1986) is a French former professional footballer. He played primarily in a box to box role, adept at both attacking and defending, and was described as a player who was "languid, elusive, and athletic" that could either "dribble past opponents or slip passes to team-mates". Of Ivorian descent, Diaby also possessed "superb touch" and "excellent close control". Diaby's career was hampered by numerous repetitive injuries, a problem that existed from his time in France.
His physical appearance and positional preference evoked comparisons to Arsenal compatriot Patrick Vieira.
Diaby was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but was raised in the Parisian commune of Aubervilliers. He began his football career playing for hometown club CM Aubervilliers. In 1998, he joined Red Star Paris. A year later, Diaby was selected to attend the INF Clairefontaine academy. He spent four years at the academy while simultaneously training with Red Star. A year before departing Clairefontaine, Diaby moved to professional club Paris Saint-Germain. Following an administrative error by club officials which made Diaby a free agent, he joined the academy of Auxerre. He spent two years in the club's youth academy before making his professional debut in the 2004–05 season. Diaby also played in the UEFA Cup with the club. After spending the Autumn portion of the 2005–06 season with Auxerre, in January 2006, Diaby signed with English club Arsenal on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut with the club that same month and scored his first goal three months later against Aston Villa. After being released from Arsenal in 2015 following persistent injury problems, Diaby signed for French Ligue 1 side Marseille. He retired from football in February 2019.
Diaby is a former French youth international, having earned caps at under-19 and under-21 level. Prior to playing for the senior team, he played on the under-19 team that won the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Diaby made his senior international debut in March 2007 in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Lithuania. He has represented France at one major international tournament; the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Diaby participated in all three group stage matches the team played as a starter.
Personal life Diaby was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but was raised in a housing development in Aubervilliers, a northeastern suburb of Paris. He is the son of a long-distance truck driver and developed an interest into the sport of football after becoming fascinated by several players who played on the 1998 FIFA World Cup-winning team, most notably midfield stalwart Patrick Vieira, whom Diaby describes as "a monument to French football". Diaby was also adept at playing other sports such as basketball and boxing. Of Ivorian descent, Diaby is a practicing Muslim and, while growing up, developed a fascination towards the subjects of religion, philosophy, science, and astronomy. Diaby became interested in accountancy after taking a course at the age of 17, while he was at the Auxerre youth academy.
Club career Early career Diaby began his football career playing for hometown club CM Aubervilliers in December 1996. While at Aubervilliers, Diaby was coached by David Giguère and Alain Mboma, the latter now serving as the manager of Red Star Paris. After two years at the club, Diaby's quick progression at the amateur club led to a move to nearby semi-professional outfit Red Star Paris in Saint-Ouen. While in the club's youth academy, Diaby was supervised by youth academy director Yves-Henri Gergaud and was described by club youth coach Marco Lienel as a player who was "fairly quiet and quite frail". Diaby started his career at the club playing on its under-13 team in the Division Honneur Régionale of the Île-de-France region. After spending a year playing with Red Star, in 1999, he was selected to attend the INF Clairefontaine academy. While at Clairefontaine, Diaby was a part of A la Clairefontaine, a documentary series which chronicled the lives of the France's top young footballers during their time at the academy. During the series, an episode showed Diaby getting into a physical confrontation with Hatem Ben Arfa.
Auxerre 2002–2004 Towards the end of his development at Clairefontaine, Diaby departed Red Star to play domestic football with professional club Paris Saint-Germain, despite being a supporter of Marseille. He spent a year at the Camp des Loges, the club's training center, from 2001 to 2002. After his departure from Clairefontaine, Diaby was expected to sign a youth contract with Paris Saint-Germain. Club officials wanted to keep the player, however, the club's human resources department failed to send a "letter of commitment" to Diaby's parents ahead of 30 April 2002 deadline, which resulted in the player becoming a free agent. Diaby was hastily recruited by Auxerre scouts and he joined the club's academy ahead of the 2002–03 season. In his first season in the club's youth academy, he won the Division d'Honneur des 16 ans, the under-16 league title of the Bourgogne region.
During the 2003–04 season, Diaby alternated between playing on the club's under-19 team in the Coupe Gambardella and playing in the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football. During the reserve team season, he played on the team alongside future Arsenal teammate Bacary Sagna, as well as Younès Kaboul, Hassan Yebda, Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé and former Clairefontaine classmate Garra Dembélé. Diaby finished the season with the team with 11 appearances and one goal as the team finished first in its group. After the season, he signed his first professional contract with the club agreeing to a three-year deal. Manager Guy Roux subsequently promoted Diaby to the first team and assigned him the number 24 shirt.
2004–2006
Similar to the previous season, Diaby regularly trained with the first team, while concurrently featuring as a starter on the club's reserve team. He made his professional debut on 14 August 2004 appearing as a substitute in a 3–1 league win over Rennes. After making his debut for the club, Diaby spent the rest of the fall season either playing on the club's reserve team or dealing with injuries. He returned to the team in March 2005 making his European debut in the team's UEFA Cup Round of 16 first leg tie against domestic rivals Lille. Diaby appeared in both legs as a substitute as Auxerre won the round 1–0 on aggregate. The club later lost in the quarter-finals to Russian club CSKA Moscow. Diaby made his first professional start on 20 March against his former youth club Paris Saint-Germain. He played 74 minutes before being substituted in a 1–0 loss. Diaby made three more appearances as a substitute to close out the season.
Following the season, Roux retired as manager of Auxerre after managing the club for 44 straight seasons. He was replaced with former France national team coach Jacques Santini. During the season, Diaby featured early on during the campaign, but as the season wore on, he struggled with injuries, which subsequently, led to the player failing to gain the confidence of Santini. Unlike fellow youngsters Sagna and Kaboul who were quickly establishing themselves at their respective positions, Diaby only featured in five league matches during the first half of the season. The midfielder did score his first professional goal on 10 September 2005 in a 3–1 loss to Rennes. In Europe, Diaby featured as a starter in the team's first round defeat to Bulgarian club Levski Sofia in the UEFA Cup. Midway through the campaign, Diaby was deemed surplus to requirements by management. Following the sale of the player, vice-president Gérard Bourgoin declared that, "We have always kept the young players which our coach wanted to use, but Diaby did not play, so this was a strategic sale for us."
Arsenal 2006–2009
On 13 January 2006, English club Arsenal confirmed that the club had signed Diaby on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee, later revealed to be £2 million. Prior to joining Arsenal, the player had reportedly turned down an offer to join Arsenal's London rivals Chelsea. Upon joining Arsenal, Diaby was given the number 2 shirt, which was left vacant since the retirement of Lee Dixon. He made his club debut on 21 January 2006 appearing as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat to Everton. Three days later, he made his first start in a 2–1 Football League Cup victory over Wigan. On 21 February, Diaby made his UEFA Champions League debut appearing as a substitute in the team's Round of 16 first leg victory over Spanish club Real Madrid. Two weeks later, Diaby assisted on a goal in Arsenal's 4–0 win over Fulham. After dealing with an injury in the month of March, he returned to play in April scoring his first goal for the club in a 5–0 victory over Aston Villa on April Fools' Day 2006. He was set up for the goal by fellow club newcomer Emmanuel Adebayor.
On 1 May, Diaby suffered a severe ankle fracture after being on the receiving end of a tackle, described by the media as "horrendous", from Sunderland defender Dan Smith. After the match, Wenger described the tackle as "a bad kick and an unnecessary one" and also criticised his competitors' over-physicality, while interim Sunderland manager Kevin Ball defended Smith stating "Smith is not a malicious, dirty player and I think it's unfair to make that call on him and say he deliberately went to do it. Dan went for the ball, unfortunately Diaby was quicker than him". As a result of the injury, Diaby missed the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, as well as the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He underwent three surgeries to repair the injury and was told by doctors that the injury could possibly be career-ending. Following the surgeries, he underwent eight months of rehabilitation and made his return to first team action in the 2006–07 season in a League Cup match against Liverpool. He appeared as a substitute in the match as Arsenal won 6–3. On 25 February 2007, while participating in the 2007 Football League Cup Final against Chelsea, Diaby, while attempting to clear the ball out of the Arsenal defense, accidentally kicked rival defender John Terry in the face. Unconscious, Terry was stretchered off and hospitalized, but recovered to return to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the trophy presentation following Chelsea's 2–1 win. Though Arsenal lost, Diaby was credited with an assist on the team's only goal of the match, which was converted by Theo Walcott. Diaby scored his first and only goal of the campaign on 14 March in a 1–0 win over Aston Villa when he deflected in a Júlio Baptista shot. He remained a fixture within the team for the rest of the campaign, mostly as a substitute as he only started in consecutive matches once.