Plymouth Argyle: Wayne Rooney may regret Rangers, Burnley, Morgan Whittaker call | OneFootball

The forward is yet to recreate his 23/24 form for the Greens in the current campaign

Over the course of the summer, one of the major storylines emanating from Home Park was the transfer scenario surrounding Morgan Whittaker.

After a 20-goal haul during the previous campaign, it was no surprise that there were plenty of suitors for the former Swansea City man, with Plymouth Argyle having to turn away bids from more than one club before the transfer window came to a close.

Relegated Premier League side Burnley and Scottish Premiership outfit Rangers were both said to be sniffing around for weeks on end, with the Devon outfit standing firm in their valuation for a player who had helped keep them in the second tier the season before.

But two months on from the transfer window coming to an end, the Pilgrims are yet to see the same player who tore the league to shreds at times in 23/24, with the underlying numbers reflecting as much.

Plymouth reject Rangers, Burnley bids for Morgan Whittaker

Argyle's stance was clear throughout

Argyle were not budging in terms of negotiations for Whittaker during the off-season, with Wayne Rooney’s side said to value their forward at £10m, with little wiggle room for any would-be buyer to haggle down.

Rangers were the first to show their hand, with the Glasgow side said to have had two bids rejected; a reported £7m offer was turned away as the 22/23 League One Champions continued to play hard ball in any transfer talks.

Then, with the days counting down before the transfer window shut, Burnley made a last-ditch attempt to bring Argyle’s club-record signing to the club, with the Clarets having two bids rejected in the final few days of August.

Once again, Argyle stood firm in their ‘not for sale’ stance, and fended off the Clarets, who promptly went and plucked Zian Flemming from Millwall instead, while Whittaker prepared to spend the rest of the year at Home Park.

Morgan Whittaker fails to replicate 23/24 form at Plymouth

The striker is underperforming in key metrics

Although things haven’t exactly been plain sailing for Rooney since he took over the reins at Home Park, it is fair to say he probably expected more in terms of output from last season’s magic man after becoming Argyle boss.

At the start of the previous campaign, Whittaker was playing with a sense of freedom; squaring defenders up, cutting inside and unleashing unstoppable efforts time after time, while his link-up play with his attacking teammates saw Argyle carve through teams as they carried on the momentum of their title-winning campaign.

But this season, their man on the right side has failed to get going, with the opposition closing down his avenues to unleash an effort with his right foot, and thus making him utterly one-dimensional.

A phobia of playing with his right boot leaves the 23-year-old marooned when given the ball in a wide position, with his tendency to lose possession with a slack pass a frustrating habit that sees Argyle’s attacking play falter at times.

You only have to look at the figures from this campaign compared to the last to see how his influence has been waning of late, with the most obvious being his goal output, with his strike rate so far being half of that last season, while no assists in ten matches is also cause for concern.

That isn’t to say he hasn’t played his part in his side’s attacking play, with his sprayed ball to Ibrahim Cissoko setting up Michael Obafemi’s goal in the recent 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers, while Whittaker himself grabbed the late winner with his head to claim a late victory at Home Park.

But aside from that and a 30-yard blockbuster against Queens Park Rangers in August, there have been very few similarities between the forward of this year and last, with most metrics falling off in the past 12 months.

Shots per 90 have fallen from 3.78 to 3.17, while those on target each match is 1.02 - dropping from 1.45 - as he continues to struggle to rediscover a formula to find a way to goal, now that sides have figured out his main danger.

The most significant drop-off has been that of shot-creating actions, with the 23/24 campaign seeing 3.53 per match, and this 2.35, which can say as much about Argyle’s overall attacking output as much as anything else, although Whittaker is crucial to that working as a whole.

Some of those figures will be affected by the addition of Ibrahim Cissoko and Rami Al Hajj into the starting lineup, with the new signings contributing more to attacking output than those in the second-half of the previous campaign, but the lack of form from the supposed star man continues to be a prickly subject at Home Park.

Whittaker has almost made himself undroppable for the Pilgrims, although his current performances aren’t setting the world alight, with the Green Army waiting for him to pull a rabbit out of a hat like he has done in previous months.

The frequency of his moments of magic are becoming less and less as the weeks go on, and there must be a tinge of regret that the club didn’t cash in when they had the chance for their main man, and reinvest heavily in the playing squad for the current campaign.

Even with a supposed £7m that Rangers were offering, which is likely the ballpark Burnley were bidding in, Argyle could have added two or three shrewd investments before the transfer window came to a close, with their European recruitment constantly finding bargains across the continent.

Al Hajj, Cissoko and Kornel Szucs are all testament to the Greens’ recruitment strategy that has spanned far and wide in recent seasons, and there is no reason why that couldn’t have been repeated with a bit more cash in the bank, and bring in a couple of players of top quality to get the Green Army’s hearts racing.

Instead, Argyle wait with bated breath to see if Whittaker can pluck something out of nothing week in, week out, and start to live in hope rather than expectation with each passing week.