From Santi Cazorla’s ankle nightmare to Eduardo’s horrific break, five Arsenal injuries still stand out as the most damaging and traumatic.
Arsenal’s bad luck with injuries over recent seasons has almost become a cliché, but this is nothing new. There were years when an injury crises were inevitable, when at least one player would go from three weeks out to three months or longer, and it is a fear that Arsenal fans still struggle to shake.
Looking at these five injuries, it is no wonder we all carry the scars.
Santi Cazorla suffered an Achilles injury against Ludogorets in October 2016 that was initially meant to keep him out for three weeks, but the reality became far more severe.
It was not until November 2017 that the true extent of the injury was revealed. “He [the doctor] saw that I had a tremendous infection, that I had damaged part of the calcaneus bone and it had eaten the Achilles tendon,” Cazorla told Marca.
“There was eight centimetres of it missing.” Surgery was required and he was still expected to return during that season, but he did not, as weeks turned into months and news of his struggles gradually emerged, including gangrene, nine surgeries, skin grafts, and the very real threat that he might never play again.
Abou Diaby endured a long and difficult Arsenal career defined by recurring injuries, and they can all be traced back to one afternoon against Sunderland in 2006.
Defender Dan Smith made what the media described as a “horrendous” tackle that left Diaby, then only 19, with a severe ankle fracture.
He underwent three operations and was warned he might never play again before making his comeback in 2007.
From that point, it became a story of setbacks and recoveries, as Diaby kept getting injured and continued trying to come back, hanging on at Arsenal until 2015 when he was released by the club.
He announced his retirement at the start of 2019, having been without a club since July 2017 when he was released by Marseille, and he made six appearances for them in two years, amassing just 335 minutes of football after leaving Arsenal.
The last anyone heard, Smith was working in a call centre.
Eduardo’s injury in 2008 remains one of the most horrifying moments many football fans have witnessed, as his ankle hung at an odd angle, held on only by his sock.
The players’ reaction reflected the severity when his leg was broken by Martin Taylor of Birmingham City, with commentators saying they would not show any replays because the injury was too gruesome.
Eduardo had been in hot form and firing Arsenal towards their first title challenge in years, but his season, and Arsenal’s, was brought to an abrupt end.
He was out for a whole year with a broken left fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle, and although he fought his way back to fitness and returned in February 2009 against Cardiff, he was never able to reach the heights he appeared destined for before the challenge by Taylor.
Now 42, Eduardo retired in January 2019 after a year with Legia Warsaw.
Aaron Ramsey suffered a double fracture in his right leg after a collision with Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross, another injury described as too graphic for TV to replay.
He had been in a rich vein of form and proving to be one of the best young players in the country until the incident took a year and a half off his career and forever changed his relationship with Arsenal fans and football.
Ramsey returned towards the end of the 2010/11 season but took at least a year to reach his previous level. He went on to become a regular in the Arsenal team and scored in two FA Cup finals, but he was never able to maintain the levels of fitness required.
The difference between Ramsey’s break and those suffered by Eduardo and Diaby, which had far more of an impact on their careers, was that Aaron’s, thankfully, did not involve any joint damage, though it was still enough to leave a lasting impact on his career.
Tomas Rosicky picked up what he would later describe as a “rare” tendon injury in January 2008, and the severity of the issue immediately threatened to end everything.
The Czech thought his career was over as the injury kept him out for the remainder of the season and the entirety of 2008/09. He returned for the start of the 2009 season but struggled with several minor injuries, and while he went on to become a valuable player for Arsenal, the end of his time at the club was hit by more serious setbacks. A 10-year stint came to an end in 2016, having made just a single appearance that season.