Plymouth Argyle player urged to seal Home Park exit to 'learn the dark arts' | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle Fan Pundit Luke Hodge believes that youngster Tegan Finn should move out on loan this month.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Following their relegation from the Championship last season, and the subsequently contentious departure of manager Miron Muslic, it has been a tough campaign thus far for Plymouth Argyle.

The Pilgrims, under the management of former Watford boss Tom Cleverley, would have expected to challenge for a top six spot and the play-off places at least but have struggled for any consistency, or real quality, throughout the season.

They have begun to move away from the bottom four and the relegation places in terms of league position in League One but the points tallies remain extremely congested and tight in the bottom-half of the table.

Their recent 4-3 victory over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground in the round of 16 of the EFL Trophy did mean they have now suffered just two defeats in their last ten matches across all competitions.

As they seek to continue to build there is perhaps an expectation of a reasonably busy and active January transfer window, and one man tipped to depart within that busy window is youngster Tegan Finn.

Tegan Finn could benefit from a loan away from Plymouth

Plymouth will want to find a consistency in the second-half of the season that not only sees them move away from the bottom four but propels them towards a top six finish.

There is a real chance of being able to do that but they will need to iron out some wrinkles in the squad and that could further diminish the immediate first-team prospects of 17-year-old midfielder Tegan Finn and so, as a result, FLW’s Plymouth Fan Pundit Luke Hodge believes it would be a good thing for him to move out on loan this month.

Luke says: “For me, it would be a loan for Tegan Finn and it’s not desperate, he’s only 17 years’ old.

“The lad has got a bright future ahead of him. He’s had sporadic minutes this year in and around the first-team; he’s started a couple of games, he’s come off the bench.

“Fortunately, he has been playing for the youth team so he has been getting minutes under his belt and that’s the problem for Argyle where, after the youth team, there is a massive gap between that and the first-team.

“It has been a problem for the likes of Freddie Issaka and Caleb Roberts. If they’re not playing for the first-team then they haven’t got any minutes in them and I think their career has stagnated.

“With Tegan, I think it would be great to get him out to play three or four months’ of men’s football and keep his progression going.

“With probably looking like another loan next season or he has the potential to be actually knocking on the door of the first-team but I think he just needs to play some men’s football and get that under his belt, learn the dark arts and carry on what he’s developing.

“Whether that’s at a local level at somewhere like Truro, Yeovil, Torquay. He doesn’t have to up sticks but just being able to consistently play men’s football for the next few months and start games, being in different environments would do him the world of good.

“For me, it’s not desperation but I think Tegan Finn going out on loan would be a good move for the last few months of the season.”

As Luke outlined, there have been issues with getting youngsters into first-team football at Plymouth and that has seen a few talented youngsters stall in terms of their development.

There will be a desire to avoid that with Tegan Finn because the young left-footed midfielder, who has played both at right wing-back as well as in the attacking midfield positions for Cleverley this season, appears to be extremely promising.

In what is his first season in professional football, Finn has already made 21 first-team appearances with ten of those coming in the full throttle nature of League One.

He has previously shown in the EFL Trophy, most notably in a 6-2 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur’s U21 side back in September whereby he scored a brace and also provided two assists.

Finn appears to be a potential future star for Argyle and nurturing his development will be key, with this month potentially pivotal in how he shapes up for next season.