Abou Diaby promised to be the new Vieira or Zinedine Zidane, but became the new Darren Anderton

Sometimes in football you get a glimpse into an alternate universe. A peek into a disparate reality which could have been ours had the infinite intricacies of events not sent time careering off into a different direction.

One such moment came on September 2, 2012 at Anfield. 

It was then we witnessed the masterpiece of a French midfielder displaying the majestic dominance of Patrick Vieira and the clairvoyant touch of Zinedine Zidane. A player who could control the game at will. A complete talent, the kind that dulls all others by its brilliance. Abou Diaby. 

It was only his third game in seven months, but Diaby sauntered around Anfield in thrilling fashion, impudently dribbling past opponents and dispatching perfect passes like he hadn't missed a beat, rather than playing like a man who was trapped in a constant, exhausting battle to prop up his career. Which is what he was.

It is not as readily recalled but just five days after that life-affirming domination of Liverpool, Diaby played for France in a World Cup qualifier against Finland. Having played only five times the previous season for Arsenal, this international recognition seemed to crown his comeback for good and Diaby scored the only goal of the game in Didier Deschamps' first competitive match in charge.

"He is a boy with a lot of qualities, but I knew that," enthused Deschamps. "He is a complete midfielder."

Diaby has not played for his country since.

Instead of becoming one of the leading midfielders of his generation, Diaby has instead become a running joke; the Darren Anderton of the FIFA generation. The subject of endless memes and jokes when he should instead have been garlanded for his talent.

The Vieira comparisons were ubiquitous across his nine years at Arsenal, but too convenient and misleading. Vieira could not have come in for his first start of the season away in Turkey in October and run the game in an attacking role, as Diaby did so magnificently against Fenerbahce in 2008. It was another of those fleeting Diaby moments which in another life could have been the norm.

The moment Diaby's universe was ruptured, the moment when his fate spun out of control and plunged downwards in violent fashion, was when his ankle was shattered by Dan Smith. A butcher's tackle which laid waste to a career. 

For a manager who values above all else the process of crafting genius from promise, transforming potential energy to kinetic, the waste of talent that is Diaby must have cut Arsene Wenger deep, deeper even than losing Cesc Fabregas or Robin van Persie.

At least in those two cases, Wenger can claim some reflected glory, even if it is bittersweet. Two leading players of the game vindicating his investment in them by fulfilling their talent and winning major trophies.

For Diaby, there has been no such vindication. Just the most crushing sense of 'what if'?