Abou Diaby latest: Released Arsenal man will use training facilities - and could yet sign new deal

Oft-injured midfielder may be re-signed on pay-as-you-play deal

Arsenal's Abou Diaby and Southampton's Steven Davis (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will allow released midfielder Abou Diaby to use the club's state of the art training facilities to maintain his fitness as he searches for a new club.

Diaby was released from the club on Wednesday afternoon after an injury-hit nine-year spell that saw him only play 180 games for the club - he played just 83 minutes for the club after March 2013.

He played just 16 minutes out of a possible 6,840 in the Premier League since the start of the 2013/14 season.

However, according to L'Equipe journalist Bruno Constant, Diaby may yet be offered a new pay-as-you-play contract with Arsenal.

Back in November, Gunners' manager Arsene Wenger had denied suggestions that the 29-year-old was injury prone, pointing to the fact that the player had fractured his ankle after a tackle from Sunderland's Dan Smith in 2006, and never truly recovered.

"He [Diaby] is a player that I have an enormous amount of respect for," explained Wenger.

"Every time he comes back, he has to start from zero with another injury. He was a victim of competition.

"A footballer needs his ankle. He was destroyed by a bad tackle [by Dan Smith in May 2006 that saw Diaby suffer a fractured ankle] at Sunderland six or seven years ago which altered his ankle.

"He is not a fragile player. He was the victim of an assassin's tackle that went unpunished."