Earlier today the French media published a story claiming that Marouane Chamakh is set to finalise a move back to French club Bordeaux in January, the team he left on a free transfer to join Arsenal.

Past time

Chamakh has often been held up by fans as a shining example of mediocre signings made by Arsene Wenger in recent years. The Moroccan started brightly, hitting 14 goals before January as the main striker in Arsenal's 4-2-3-1 formation that promised so much in 2010/11.

However, with the return and form of Robin Van Persie he's been increasingly marginalised, and with the arrival of Podolski and Giroud has often found himself out of the matchday squad entirely. He scored 1 goal last season in a 4-3 defeat to Blackburn and has scored 2 this season in his only start, the 7-5 bonanza at Reading in the League Cup.

Not only that, but he's been in trouble with the club hierarchy, being found out on the town smoking shisha, often with fellow Moroccan Adel Taarabt, even after Taarabt 's QPR had defeated Arsenal on the same day. Other stories about being in nightclubs the night before games and a general poor attitude have given an outline of why Chamakh is so underused.

Unfair

He's jaded as well. Having started so brightly he is now a squad member, and was thrown away at the first opportunity. Being forced to play out of position didn't help, but Chamakh is a limited player, his skill set matched and exceeded by Olivier Giroud. At Bordeaux he was popular and had a team that played to his strengths. He'll still find that. It's probably for the best.

A free transfer that didn't pay off, Chamakh's departure would clear some £60,000 a week off the wage bill too. With talk of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar being a target, that won't hurt.

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