The 27-year-old France international suffered ligament damage to his knee in March and is not expected to play any sort of role at Arsenal in the first half of the 2013-14 season.

Diaby has returned to France as he continues his recuperation and has revealed that he is just starting to walk again.

And the midfielder - who has made 162 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal since signing from Auxerre in 2006 - says that he will not push himself to return to the training ground before he is ready, for fear of doing more damage.

"I have come off the crutches. Now I have to start walking again!" he told L'Equipe.

"I will start running again in a few weeks.

"I want to take my time with everything to ensure that it all goes smoothly."