Celtic eye double Plymouth Argyle deal - Realistic Pepple & Tolaj claims made | OneFootball

Which comes after Tom Cleverley has tried to calm the situation down at Home Park

After losing to Rotherham United on Saturday, Tom Cleverley's Plymouth Argyle find themselves six points off the League One play-off places in 12th.

But it was, of course, the second loss in a row for the Pilgrims since top scorer Lorent Tolaj was confirmed to be out with a leg injury — the first loss being in the EFL Trophy against Luton Town.

Tolaj's usual strike partner, Aribim (Bim) Pepple, has now failed to score in either of these two matches without the Swiss, with both Ronan Curtis and Tegan Finn starting one game each with the Canadian upfront.

Regarding Celtic's reported transfer interest in the 14 and nine-goal pair, Cleverley has moved to try and calm the speculation, but an honest verdict has been made about what awaits the Devonshire club in a few months time.

FLW's Plymouth Argyle Fan Pundit, Luke Hodge, shares his thoughts on the club's manager saying the two aforementioned strikers have 'no appetite to leave.

'No doubts' over whether Lorent Tolaj and Aribim Pepple are 'settled' at Plymouth Argyle

The comments from Cleverley, via PlymouthLive, came in the wake of the aforementioned report that Scottish champions Celtic are leading a growing pack of clubs to sign Tolaj and Pepple.

Hodge responded to this by telling FLW: "This is exactly the kind of stance you’d expect a manager to take to keep things calm, and I understand it. I’ve got absolutely no doubts that both Lorent Tolaj and Bim Pebble are happy and settled at Argyle right now.

"The environment is positive, they’re getting minutes and you can see from their performances that they’re enjoying their football. The dressing room seems tight, coaching’s pretty consistent and the fans have been brilliant, so on that foot everything’s aligned," the Fan Pundit added.

In truth, regardless of the last two games, the environment at Argyle does look positive compared to earlier on in the season when they were looking likely to go down. Take the 5-2 thumping of Cardiff City as an example, where both Tolaj and Pepple bagged a brace.

But it doesn't seem like a positive environment alone will be enough to keep at least one of these two in particular.

Plymouth Argyle's Lorent Tolaj expected to be the subject of 'serious' transfer offers

Hodge believes the case for Tolaj to stay is much harder than Pepple's. He continued by saying: "But that said, I want to be honest about Tolaj.

"Unless Argyle get promoted, I don’t see him staying beyond the summer, and even if we do go up, there’s still a very good chance that he moves to a club with better prospects on better financial terms.

"This isn’t a slight on Argyle, and it’s certainly not about him being unhappy here. This is about ambition. He’s performing at a level that naturally draws attention and, at present, he’s arguably too good for where we are."

Since arriving from Port Vale in the summer after having his apparent 'substantial release clause' activated, Tolaj has hit 17 goals across all competitions in 28 games - six more than Pepple in three less appearances, who has 11 goals in 31 games.

The Fan Pundit then argued: "He’s [Tolaj] performing at a level that naturally draws attention and, at present, he’s arguably too good for where we are.

"I fully expect more than one club to come in for him as well with serious offers, and if those offers align with career trajectory and personal goals then they’ll be hard to turn down, but that’s football."

Given that the former Switzerland youth international signed a contract at Home Park for four years, Argyle obviously have all the power to command whatever fee they potentially want for him.

Plymouth Argyle have 'stronger chance' of keeping Aribim Pepple than Lorent Tolaj

The Greens are also under no pressure to get rid of Pepple either, as the Canadian's own contract is until 2029, yet Hodge believes the club have a better chance at keeping him than Tolaj.

"With Bim Pebble, I actually do feel we have a stronger chance of keeping him," Hodge told FLW.

"His progress has been impressive, and his confidence is up. Now, the rumour of a release clause does change that equation, if that figures is met it becomes a decision that’s largely out of Argyle’s hands," the Fan Pundit added.

Said release clause rumour was said to be true by Cleverley, although the amount is unclear at this stage. Seeing as though Pepple was signed for an initial fee of £250k, which could rise to £600k, you'd like to think it'd be a lot more.

Hodge concluded by admitting the summer looks like a busy one for the two strikers. "The bottom line to me is that, yes both lads are happy, and that matters, but I won’t pretend that the summer won’t be active," he said.

Clearly, Hodge feels as though Cleverley’s transfer statement involving Tolaj and Pepple isn’t a definitive one about their futures.