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Lorent Tolaj has been labelled as "a level above" Ryan Hardie by FLW's Plymouth Argyle expert Luke Hodge.

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…

Plymouth Argyle spent many weeks and faced multiple setbacks in their quest for a new number nine, but it seems good things come to those who wait, as Lorent Tolaj has proven to be a superb acquisition.

The Pilgrims laid down a statement of intent when they activated the £1.2m release clause in the Swiss striker's Port Vale contract, which saw him make the switch to Home Park to become Ryan Hardie's successor.

Hardie departed Argyle this summer after five years at the club, and was a fan favourite thanks to his work rate, eye for goal, and ability to open new avenues of attack with his tenacious runs.

It was known that replacing the Scot would be a tall order, but it seems their new number nine is more than up to the task, bringing a whole new dimension to Tom Cleverley's attack with his link-up play and combative ability.

This led to claims on social media that Tolaj is actually a big upgrade on Hardie from some of the Green Army, as it seems his skillset is the perfect fit for this new-look Plymouth side under Cleverley.

Plymouth Argyle's Lorent Tolaj "a level above" Ryan Hardie

After Tolaj opened his league account with a wonderful goal against Stockport County on Saturday, Football League World consulted their resident Argyle expert, Luke Hodge, to see if he believed that the 23-year-old is an upgrade on Hardie.

Hodge responded to this question by stating: "Yeah, if I was being brutally honest because I really like Ryan Hardie, but I would agree with that.

"I think Tolaj is a level above, and that's no disrespect to Ryan. I thought he was absolutely amazing during his time at Argyle.

"You couldn't knock his work rate. He was never going to be a prolific goalscorer, but he did score goals and his runs in behind were superb.

"But Tolaj has so many more attributes. The guy reminds me of a lower league Haaland. He's only 23 years old but seems to be going from strength to strength.

"He's strong, combative, relatively quick, hungry, his link-up play is good, [and] his touch. He's got everything, and the goal he scored yesterday [vs Stockport] was just superb. To take it down like that from the goal-kick and roll his defender and then a very Haaland-esque finish.

"He looks the real deal, and I don't think he's going to be with us for a particularly long time simply because I think if he carries on this improvement, then there's going to be several Championship clubs and European clubs already keeping tabs on him," Luke concluded.

Plymouth Argyle's depth at striker could help benefit Lorent Tolaj's fitness

With all the domestic competitions throughout the season, players end up playing in excess of 50 games, meaning depth and rotation are the key to keeping star players fit for the big league games.

Fortunately for Plymouth, they have two other strikers in Owen Oseni and Bim Pepple in their ranks to take some of the load off Tolaj in cup competitions, and help him maintain his fitness levels for big matches.

Luke also discussed this with FLW, saying: "It's still early doors. We just need to keep him injury-free and what we don't want to do is flog him to death, because there's a lot of games, and we need to keep him as fresh as we can, so maybe with certain cup games we can give him a break.

"No disrespect to our other strikers, but the drop-off in quality from Tolaj to Oseni and Pepple is huge."

Whilst there is a clear gulf in quality between Tolaj and his strike partners, it's important that the other two are on standby to help Argyle get the most out of their new number nine, by deputising in cup competitions which don't take priority over the league.