Arsenal Transfer Rumours: Selling Marouane Chamakh Would Continue Great Summer

It continues to be a great transfer window for Arsenal as the Gunners might have found a permanent new home for Marouane Chamakh.

The Daily Mail's David Kent reported Levante could be interested in a move for the 29-year-old striker. Miguel Angel Rodriguez of Marca reported as much also.

Chamakh hasn't been a good fit at Arsenal since moving to the club in 2010. He's scored just eight goals in 43 Premier League appearances.

While at Bordeaux, Chamakh benefited from having a lot of service from out wide. The Gunners don't play a style similar to that, and Chamakh has suffered as a result. He's not effective as a forward when he has to put the ball on the floor and rely on quick buildup play through the midfield.

Considering Arsenal won't change their system anytime soon, it's come to about the time where they should give up on hoping to get anything out of Chamakh and let him go elsewhere.

It's not like he'll get that much better or valuable after a loan elsewhere for a season. The only move the club has is to sell him outright and take whatever it can get.

Looking back on the last couple of years, Chamakh has been just one of many players who've failed to deliver on their promise. For whatever reason, the club kept hanging on to those players, hoping they would come good eventually.

For the most part, it's never happened for those players, and they've been eating up the wage budget.

Finally, it seems Arsene Wenger is ready to part with the dead wood.

First came the releases of Andrey Arshavin, Denilson and Sebastien Squillaci. Then came news that Nicklas Bendtner might be on the way out, but Sky Sports' Thomas Zocher reported that Eintracht Frankfurt might not be able to afford the striker. You'd have to think the two clubs will work out something.

Although these aren't outright sales, there are also the season-long loans for Johan Djourou and Francis Coquelin, per the BBC.

Moving out Chamakh would be the next step.

These are all players, possibly with the exception of Coquelin, who aren't going to help Arsenal move forward. They're probably good enough to keep the club in the top four, but as Wenger and Ivan Gazidis are seeing, that's not going to be enough for much longer. If the Gunners truly want to mount a title charge, they need to start moving out the weak players and bringing in better ones.

To Arsenal's credit, that seems to be exactly what they are doing, and it's not a moment too soon. Of course, this wouldn't be a huge help if Arsenal didn't bring in any improvements.

Fortunately, Arsenal seem very close to finally capturing Gonzalo Higuain, per The Guardian's Sid Lowe. He would be a major transfer for the Gunners, both symbolically and on the pitch. Buying Higuain would give the club a solid target man up top and send the signal to the league that it's not going to hold back the checkbook any longer.

For years, Arsenal supporters have dreaded the summer transfer window because it meant the club would be losing its best players and bringing back substandard replacements.

This year, though, is the complete opposite. Arsenal are selling or loaning out substandard players and bringing in quality ones.

For once, supporters can actually look forward to the start of the next season.