This article is part of Football FanCast's Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba's haircuts to League Two relegation battles...

Let's get things straight before we head into this article - Mamadou Sakho is arguably one of Crystal Palace's best ever centre-backs, and what he has done since arriving in south London shouldn't go unnoticed.

However, in the current moment, the Frenchman may not be pulling his weight, nor is he deserving of the finances he takes from the club.

Admittedly, Sakho has struggled with injury problems throughout his time at Selhurst Park - a serious knee injury against Leicester back in February saw him fail to make an appearance until the home tie against Aston Villa this season on the final day of August.

However, Sakho really does feel like a luxury player nowadays.

Roy Hodgson is wealthy in the centre-back department, being able to call upon James Tomkins, Gary Cahill, Martin Kelly or Scott Dann, all of whom have made more Premier League starts than Sakho this season, apart from the latter who is also on three.

When the former Paris Saint-Germain captain has been needed, his first league start of the campaign saw him contribute to a four-goal mauling by Tottenham in just the first 45 minutes, a match in which Sakho was bypassed time and time again.

Again, at a time where he was really needed by his side following injuries to Joel Ward, Dann and Cahill, Sakho went and got himself sent off after just 19 minutes against Bournemouth with a foolish lunge, leaving his teammates facing an uphill battle.

Now, you could cut him some slack given his obvious fitness issues, but when the numbers are laid out in black and white, it's hard to deny that Sakho perhaps isn't doing enough to repay the faith put in him.

The 29-year-old cost £26m when Palace signed him from Liverpool, while Sakho also earns £5.2m a year on his £100k-a-week salary - to have been paid that much by the club, the south Londoners might feel like they aren't getting good value right now.

Palace's No.12 is quite clearly a brilliant player on his day, combining defensive steel with utterly composed passing ability. However, because of the aforementioned reasons, coupled with the Eagles' good form without him this term, Sakho must start doing more.

In other news, two moments from 2018 and one from 2019 mean this Palace star must be careful against Watford...