Arsenal: Arsene Wenger prepared to let Abou Diaby continue rehabilitation at the club without a contract

Arsenal are reportedly ready to offer midfielder Abou Diaby one last chance to resurrect his injury ravaged Arsenal career with a pay-as-you-play deal.

According to the Telegraph, Arsene Wenger still rates the midfielder highly and is ready to keep him at the club beyond this summer when the Frenchman's contract is set to expire.

Diaby has recovered from the injuries that kept him out the entire season, and has recently been playing with the U21 team. The Gunners youth team coach Steve Gatting has described the former Auxerre midfielder's form as incredible for the reserve side, but he is yet to even make the bench for the senior side.

There is no contract on offer yet for the midfielder, who has made just 16 appearances for the club in the last four years. But the report claims that the Arsenal boss, who shares a close bond with Diaby, is willing to let the midfielder continue his rehabilitation at the club's London Colney training centre and reassess him once he regains his fitness.

If he can prove that he can consistently perform for the club at the highest level, the manager is believed to be considering a pay-as-you-play deal for the midfielder.

Diaby has had 42 separate injuries since joining Arsenal from Auxerre in 2006, and Wenger still believes that most of the injury problems stem from the first time Diaby was injured by a crunching tackle by Sunderland's Dan Smith, that broke the midfielder's ankle.

"Diaby hasn't a mental problem but a problem of injury. He is a player for whom I have great respect. Whenever he returns, he is injured and he goes from zero. He was destroyed by a bad tackle. It has restricted the mobility of his ankle. If he comes back, I will keep him. I always believed in him," Wenger said, as quoted by the Telegraph.