Tottenham Transfer News: Spurs Make Loan Request for Arsenal's Marouane Chamakh

Andre Villas-Boas may soon have the striker he's been looking for all summer, and he might not have to go far to find him.

According to the Daily Mirror, Tottenham has sent in a loan inquiry to Arsenal about the rarely used Marouane Chamakh.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger could potentially jump at the chance to offload the forward who earned all of 19 league starts at Arsenal in two seasons since coming from Ligue 1 side Bordeaux.

However, Wenger could also nix the deal altogether so as to not give an English—not to mention London!—rival like Tottenham the opportunity to fix their situation at forward.

Chamakh wasn't always out of favor with Wenger. After coming over in the summer of 2009 on a free transfer from Bordeaux, the now-28-year-old Moroccan international debuted nicely with his new club—scoring 11 goals in league play and contributing well in Arsenal's Champions League and FA Cup campaigns that season.

But last season, Chamakh scored just one goal in 11 appearances. He's started this season no better, as Wenger left him out of the lineup altogether for Arsenal's opening match (0-0 draw to Sunderland).

Seemingly, Tottenham will have to act quickly to snatch up Chamakh. The Daily Mail is reporting that the striker is the center of loan requests from fellow English club Everton and Italian club Fiorentina.

If he comes on the cheap, he'd be a great asset on the pitch for Spurs. Besides filling a desperate need at forward, he's strong in the air and would provide some much-needed height and physicality in the box.

He's also a gifted player in possession and technique who unselfishly often looks first to dump passes off to teammates. That could bode well for fellow forward Jermain Defoe, who has been looking for a season to entrench himself as the first-choice at forward for Tottenham.