Ranking the 5 best and 5 worst Plymouth Argyle signings since 2010 | OneFootball

Highlights

Plymouth Argyle have enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last decade or so, coming back from the brink of administration to now holding their own in the Championship.

There have been some hugely influential players during that period and at the same time, there have been some very forgettable faces.

The likes of Hiram Boateng and Finn Azaz deserve honourable mentions for their contributions to the club, but they proved to be too good for the respective level and so ended up moving on swiftly. Former captain Curtis Nelson, meanwhile, joined in 2009 and so just misses the cut.

Without further ado, here are the 5 best and 5 worst Plymouth Argyle signings since 2010.

The 5 best Plymouth Argyle signings since 2010

5th: Ruben Lameiras

Kicking things off on the positive front, Portuguese international Ruben Lameiras made a major impact in his short time in Devon.

The intricate winger joined Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer after departing relegated Coventry City in the summer of 2017.

During his time in green and white, Lameiras scored 18 and assisted 19, even being named as the club’s Player of the Season in the 2018/19 campaign.

He struck up a great relationship with another name on this list and will generally be remembered very fondly by the Home Park faithful.

4th: Ryan Hardie

Given the aforementioned rise of Argyle, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a few players on this list are currently employed by the club.

Ryan Hardie is a supporter’s dream given his goals and tireless dedication to chasing down every ball, no matter how likely, or unlikely he is to be successful.

The Scotsman first arrived on loan from Blackpool but his instant impact earned him a permanent transfer over from the Tangerines for an undisclosed fee.

Hardie scored 29 goals across his last two League One campaigns and he has risen to the challenge of a higher division.

Hardie’s captain this year is another fierce worker who puts his body on the line for the Plymouth Argyle cause.

What Joe Edwards may lack in technical ability compared to some of his teammates, he more than makes up for in heart and passion.

This isn’t to say that he isn't a capable player either and, just like Hardie, he has grasped the Championship with both hands.

Edwards has amassed more than 200 appearances for the Pilgrims since joining from Walsall in 2019, the most he has made for any club.

He is a real credit to the city of Plymouth as the face of their beloved Argyle.

2nd: Graham Carey

Getting fans out of their seats and on their feet is the goal for flashy and playmaking attackers.

There has been no one that has done that better in the history of this football club than Irishman Graham Carey.

The nature of the beast in the lower leagues sees a lot of free transfers take place, a lot of whom can turn out to be rather underwhelming additions.

Carey is a rare exception in that signing him for £0 after he left Ross County was nothing short of a masterstroke.

In three consecutive seasons, across League Two and League One, Carey reached double figures for both goals and assists, a combined total of 30 in 2016/17 being the highest tally.

With his impeccable dribbling and ability to score the most outrageous of goals, Carey was and still is an Argyle icon.

1st: Morgan Whittaker

Breaking their record transfer fee twice in one window was a major statement of intent from Argyle as they continued to take their return to the Championship seriously.

Bali Mumba arriving from Norwich City was a coup in itself but snapping up Swansea City’s Morgan Whittaker is still mind-blowing to this day.

Whittaker continues to go from strength to strength in the green and white and his desire to remain at the club, even when a European giant like Lazio came calling last month, is a testament to his character.

£1 million is a huge fee for a club like Argyle and yet it has more than paid off, with the star forward showing his quality as both goalscorer and creator in the second tier to establish himself as the Pilgrims' talisman.

Last season, Whittaker contributed to 16 goals before he was recalled by Swansea and the Welsh club’s loss is most definitely Argyle’s gain.

The fanbase know that sooner rather than later, Whittaker will get a much-deserved move to a bigger club. For the time being though, all that can be done is to enjoy his brilliance whilst he’s still a Green.

Whittaker is certainly the greatest signing by Argyle in the last decade and he may well be one of the greatest signings in the history of the club too.

The 5 worst Plymouth Argyle signings since 2010

5th: Arnold Garita

Given how infrequently Plymouth Argyle have spent money, narrowing down the worst signings proved a lot more difficult than the best.

One who certainly sticks in the mind though is Cameroonian striker Arnold Garita.

On a rainy and windy night at Rodney Parade, the home of Newport County, Garita demanded he take a penalty in extra-time of an FA Cup replay due to the fact that he won it.

Carey begrudgingly handed over the ball only for Garita to then hit the post - in what was a good representation of his time with the club as a whole.

Luckily for the striker, Argyle would then win another penalty in that extra-time period, which Carey made no mistake of dispatching home and setting up an iconic third round clash with Liverpool.

Garita was hindered by injuries at times and though there were bright sparks there, due to the expectations around him, his spell with the club was disappointing on the whole - 17 appearances while on loan from Bristol City returning two goals and two assists.

4th: Gary Miller

Kelvin Mellor became something of a cult figure at Home Park but for the wrong reasons and so the supporters were hopeful that his replacement at right-back, Gary Miller, would be a step up.

The Scotsman ended up being just as bad as Mellor, if not worse, and stuck out like a sore thumb in the Argyle XI.

Miller made 56 appearances for the club across his two years on the books, and it maybe shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Argyle and Carlisle United were the only two English teams for which he played in his career.

As has been previously alluded to, it is very rare that the powers that be at Argyle will spend money on players.

Whilst that trend may now be shifting, parting ways with £15,000 for Nathan Blissett seven years ago came as quite the shock.

The striker arrived from local rivals Torquay United and due to the fee alone, a lot was expected of him.

Graham Carey and Jake Jervis were just two of the Argyle players to be making a difference in front of goal that season, whilst Blissett managed two in nine outings.

a mere 25 games

2nd: Nadir Ciftci

Expectations represent 9/10 of the law when it comes to the worst signings of a club, and so for little old Argyle to loan in a striker from Celtic, there was plenty of that around.

Nadir Ciftci, formerly of Portsmouth, had been unable to establish himself as a regular for the Scottish giants, leading to a few different loan moves, one of which took him down to Devon for the 2017/18 season.

It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be for Ciftci though, making a lowly seven league appearances as well as a cameo in the EFL Trophy, with zero goals to show for it.

1st: Matt Macey

If signing players from Celtic is a big deal, then the same can certainly be said for Arsenal as well.

Young goalkeeper Matt Macey was highly rated in North London at the time so he arrived in Plymouth with a lot of promise from both sides of the deal.

Despite making 34 appearances in League One for Argyle, it was genuinely surprising just how woeful he was and then Home Park faithful couldn’t wait to see the back of him.

Macey has played in the EFL Cup for Arsenal, and featured in Champions League matchday squads, yet he was unable to gain any form of confidence in League One and so goes down as the worst signing that Plymouth Argyle have made since 2010, even as a loanee.