It may be a far cry from the time he was scoring goals for fun at Watford, but since signing for Bolton in January 2012 for a £3 million plus fee, he's scored only 11 league goals. Four of them were for Bolton with the other seven coming during a loan at Charlton in the 2013/14 season.
He did score four FA Cup goals for Bolton in just three appearances, all against Premier League opposition with three against Sunderland and one against Everton. His only Burnley goal followed that pattern, coming at Spurs in last season's FA Cup.
But is signing at Colchester has been viewed as a coup for them and a delighted manager Tony Dunne, who has been searching for a new striker all summer, said: "It's a great signing for the club. We've been patient and missed out on a few but maybe it was meant to be.
"Marvin became available when he left Burnley at the end of the last transfer window and we've signed him until the end of the season. He's done all his pre-season with Burnley and has been on the bench for them this season.
"As soon as Marvin became available, we made a tentative enquiry. He's been at Premier League clubs and it was more a case of sounding out something that was an option for us. We're delighted that we've sorted a deal with him."
Sordell, part of the Team GB Olympic squad, will be pleased to have got fixed up so quickly. He was perhaps a gamble by Sean Dyche who had worked with him previously at Watford, but it was one ultimately that didn't work out for club and player.
Hopefully, he'll turn things round this season and become a success at Colchester which will mean getting back to scoring goals.