Plymouth Argyle make key decision around Mustapha Bundu's Home Park future | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle attacker Mustapha Bundu has been offered a new contract by Miron Muslic, the club have confirmed in their retained list.

Plymouth Argyle have released their retained list from the 2024/25 season, which confirms that in-form attacker Mustapha Bundu has been offered a contract for next season.

Since Miron Muslic's arrival in January, Bundu has been one of the better players in Argyle's squad, with six goals in his last ten games to take Plymouth's survival hopes to the final day - a lot later than would have been expected a few weeks before the end of the season.

The contract situation at Argyle

Only seven of Muslic's squad are out of contract this summer, with three (including Bundu) being offered new contracts, and four being released entirely.

The other two that have been offered deals were midfielder Jordan Houghton and defender Jack Matthews.

Ben Waine, Saxon Earley, Will Jenkins Davies and Josh Bernard are the four to have been released.

It is unclear at this point whether Bundu will or won't sign the contract, but it is now known that there is an offer on the table.

Bundu's pedigree

A Sierra Leone international, the forward has brought technical ability and goals since his arrival at Home Park in 2023, with 14 goals in 70 appearances for the club.

Signed from Anderlecht, he came to the Devon side with some real pedigree, having also played for Danish Superliga team Aarhus GF over 100 times in a four-year stint between 2016 and 2020.

Many expected that following Argyle's relegation, he would go to greener pastures and potentially find a club in the Championship, or even abroad. With the confirmation of a contract on the table, the chance of this happening is reduced.

It may be a case of the club wanting to get some money for him, as a new contract means that he would not be able to leave on a free this summer, and an agreement of this nature could be on the table.

Bundu signing a contract would be a big statement

Should the Sierra Leonean end up staying, it would be a big statement that the Pilgrims are looking to get back up to the Championship at the first attempt, much like what Birmingham City did this season.

Although the Blues did have a significantly larger budget than Plymouth will be expecting, they did show that it is not impossible to bounce back straight away, and there have been countless occasions in the past where relegated teams have managed to get straight back into the Championship.

Rumours are swirling about manager Muslic's potential departure, with a recent interview with BBC Sport saying that he "needs answers" regarding key contracts that will run out next year, as well as the lack of a sporting director at the club.

He said: "I'm still here without a sporting director, I'm still here without recruitment department, that makes the job for a head coach very, very difficult. That makes success, regardless of the competition, almost impossible.

"I'm alone for four months. So these sort of questions, I need answers."