Ex-Sheffield United favourite set for last chance to impress as patience wears thin

Patience is wearing thin at Marseille as former Sheffield United man Iliman Ndiaye continues to struggle for form. Ndiaye left Bramall Lane to join the Ligue 1 side last summer after helping the Blades out of the Championship and back into the Premier League.

It was a move that saw the Senegal international back to the club he represented as a schoolboy and it gave him the chance to play at European level, with Marseille competing in the Europa League. However, it's fair to say his return to the south of France has not gone as planned.

Ndiaye has struggled to show the type of form he did a Bramall Lane and in 37 appearances in all competitions, he has racked up just four goals and four assists. That's despite starting most games under Jean-Louis Gasset in a number of positions across the front four.

He did threaten to find consistency a few weeks ago with goals coming in comfortable wins over Montpellier and Clermont, while he also found the net in the knockout stages of the Europa League against Shakhtar Donestsk, but he has drawn a blank in the games he has played since. As such, according to French publication Le Phoceen, via Sport Witness, supporters are beginning to question his place in the side and his signing altogether.

The eye-catching numbers he produced in a Blades shirt have not gone unnoticed by Marseille supporters and as he struggles for end product, his talent has even been challenged. It is claimed then that Ndiaye could be given one last game to prove himself in a Marseille shirt, with the club taking on Benfica in the second round of their Europa League quarter-final tonight.

A failure to impress could leave Gasset looking for alternative options and bring Ndiaye's future at the club into doubt. The 24-year-old has already been linked away from Marseille, with a move to Crystal Palace touted in January.

It seems highly unlikely that a move back to South Yorkshire would be on the cards any time soon, despite how much many would like to see him return. However, summer rumours of a move to the Premier League would not come as a surprise if Ndiaye cannot find traction at the Stade Velodrome.