Plymouth Argyle will not have Ryan Hardie regret for one clear and obvious reason | OneFootball

Ryan Hardie left Plymouth Argyle for Wrexham this summer but they will not regret striking this deal

Ryan Hardie spent five-and-a-half years at Plymouth Argyle, playing in each of League Two, League One and the Championship before his move to Wrexham this summer, but it hasn't gone exactly to plan so far for the Scot in North Wales.

Scottish forward Hardie joined Plymouth in January 2020 from Blackpool whilst the club was still in League Two, and he would go on to leave a lasting impact at Home Park and become a firm fan favourite among Pilgrims supporters.

The 28-year-old hit double digits in four of his five full seasons in Devon, including two in the Championship, and following Plymouth's relegation to League One at the end of last season, Hardie looked to move on and remain in the English second tier.

He scored 74 goals and grabbed 23 assists in 248 games for Plymouth across all competitions before switching to high-flying Wrexham this summer, who have recorded three consecutive promotions in a row to rise to the Championship.

However, since his switch to North Wales, things haven't gone the way as he, or Wrexham fans, would have hoped.

Plymouth, on the other hand, for all of their struggles in the third tier so far, have seemingly found a ready-made replacement for Hardie, which has almost certainly softened the blow of his summer departure.

Laurent Tolaj has picked up the mantle left by Ryan Hardie at Plymouth Argyle - Tom Cleverley will be delighted

With Hardie joining Wrexham this summer, Plymouth were in desperate need of rejuvenating their attacking options.

In fact, of the 16 players that left Home Park this summer, including Hardie, it meant that Plymouth essentially lost 96% of their goals from last season, with only Julio Pleguezuelo and Joe Edwards remaining at the club that scored for them in the league last season.

Hardie finished as the club's top scorer on 12, and with an array of other exits in attacking areas, including the likes of Mustapha Bundu, Morgan Whittaker (who left in January), Andre Gray and Michael Obafemi, attacking reinforcements were desperately required.

Plymouth moved for Port Vale striker Laurent Tolaj, who scored 14 goals and grabbed eight assists in League Two last season as the Valiants were promoted, striking a £1.2 million deal with the Stoke-on-Trent-based club to bring the Swiss forward to Devon.

Tolaj has hit the ground running at Home Park, much to manager Tom Cleverley's delight, having scored five goals and adding one assist in eight league games so far for the club, and looks to be a real handful in the third tier.

The Swiss striker is well on track to net 20 plus goals this season if he keeps up this form, and Plymouth fans will be delighted with his arrival, having picked up the mantle left by the departing Hardie.

Ryan Hardie has struggled at Wrexham since his move from Plymouth Argyle

Since Hardie's move to Wales, the forward has struggled to get to grips with life at his new club.

In Wrexham's first three games of the season, Hardie appeared as a substitute twice, making little impact, but was then given two consecutive starts in the following games against Millwall and Queens Park Rangers, but again, did little to contribute.

Since Wrexham's 3-1 home defeat to QPR, Hardie has not been involved in a matchday squad since, with manager Phil Parkinson never mentioning an injury-related issue to the Scot.

With just 160 league minutes under his belt after 10 matches, and having seemingly vanished from Parkinson's plans, it appears to be a bizarre situation.

Kieffer Moore, Josh Windass and Sam Smith have been the preferred options in attacking areas for Parkinson, leaving Hardie out in the cold.

On the face of it, Plymouth are the ones who have got the better deal out of this situation, and if Tolaj can continue to score at the rate he is right now, Pilgrims fans may forget about the Hardie deal entirely.