Paul Pogba: 'Ex-Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby taught me a lot'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 27 May 2018

Paul Pogba: 'Abou Diaby taught me a lot'

Paul Pogba believes that Abou Diaby is a better all-round midfielder than him, citing his compatriot's injury problems as the reason he is not more highly regarded.

Manchester United ace Paul Pogba has named "exceptional" former Arsenal counterpart Abou Diaby in a list of central midfielders that he believes are better than him.

The 32-year-old is currently a free agent after being released by Marseille last year due to the same injury problems that plagued his decade in North London.

Despite Diaby's stop-start career, though, Pogba insists that the 16-cap France international is among an elite band of players who can claim to be more talented than him.

"There is [Andres] Iniesta, who is having an amazing career. Then there are the [Toni] Krooses, [Luka] Modrics of this world; David Silva, [Kevin] De Bruyne, Yaya Toure, even Abou Diaby, who many forget about," he told Canal+.

"He is an exceptional box-to-box player. Sadly he had a lot of injuries. He was someone who when he was at Arsenal he was exceptional.

"We forget but he was exceptional. For France he was great. Abou Diaby is a player I watched and respect a lot. I won't forget him. I learned a lot from him."

Diaby was restricted to just 180 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, scoring 19 goals.