Gervinho: Gunners' Big Summer Signing Faces Uncertain Future

One of the more frustrating aspects of the latter half of Arsenal's season, has been the dramatic loss of form of Gervinho. Despite only arriving this past summer from Lille, for handsome price believed to be £11.2 million, Gervinho is already facing an uncertain future with the Gunners.

The protracted transfer saga for the Ivory Coast forward seemed to be worth every excruciating twist and turn, when Gervinho began his Arsenal career brightly. Two quality goals in his first friendly appearance indicated that Arsene Wenger had smartly swooped for another versatile and dangerous attacker.

This initial optimism continued to be fueled, despite Gervinho's sending off in his first league action, against Newcastle United. During his first two months at the club, the ex-Lille star was pacy, inventive and direct.

Whether setting up goals, or making clever, well-timed runs through the middle to provide a scoring threat of his own, Gervinho looked like a player who always carried an end product. After seasons spent watching the likes of Aleksandr Hleb and Nicklas Bendtner labour to no effect in the wide areas, Gervinho appeared more in the Freddie Ljungberg mold.

However, he has since fallen far from grace. The warning signs first surfaced during the Gunners stunning 5-3 triumph over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, back in October.

Gervinho missed a series of easy chances and his lack of composure and precision hinted at a player lacking the vital assurance in key areas of the pitch. Eventually these same problems began to affect Gervinho's distribution.

Once he could be relied upon to dance past his marker and glide into the box, before calmly laying the ball across for a striker to tap in, as he did in in the 2-1 win at Udinese. Yet, lately, Gervinho seems hesitant to take his man on with the same brand of trickery and audacity.

Even when he does escape his marker, Gervinho often appears indecisive. This has meant that the potency which characterised his early contributions for Arsenal, has disappeared.

This has led to Wenger playing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain probably more often than he would have liked. The Gunners boss has also resorted to slotting natural central players like Aaron Ramsey and Yossi Benayoun into Gervinho's position.

At first this author was tempted to conclude that Gervinho's continued omissions were Wenger's way of keeping the player fresh, following his exertions in the African Cup of Nations. The player himself hinted that the tournament has had its effect on his performances.

Yet Wenger's continued willingness to force Ramsey into a wide role is a sign of diminished confidence in Gervinho, whatever the reason. The player is clearly short of confidence, but the question is will he be given the chance to regain it?

With Lukasz Poldolski's arrival seemingly imminent, Gervinho's place seems under direct threat. The German striker plays the left side of a front three for the national team and is unlikely to sign for Arsenal purely to help rest Robin van Persie.

Poldolski's reputation and proven track record for goals already puts him ahead of Gervinho in the pecking order, before a game has been played. A switch to the right would seem natural, given that the Ivorian starred in these areas for Lille.

However, it's difficult to imagine Theo Walcott being so easily supplanted from Wenger's thinking and in all honesty, based on the current form, why would he be? With youngsters like Chamberlain and the exciting Ryo Miyaichi staking strong claims for first-team consideration, is there room for Gervinho?

A turn around in his form would silence a large portion of this debate. Yet the turn around would have to be significant given those vying to replace him.

With so much competition for his place, Gervinho may find that he does not have the luxury of relying on Wenger's patience for too long.