Plymouth Argyle have 2 things to consider before summer transfer decision - one is £260k annual cost | OneFootball

Darko Gyabi's future will be under consideration this summer, but Home Park is not likely to become his permanent base

Darko Gyabi has been a player that has split opinion within the Plymouth Argyle fanbase this season, with the Leeds United loanee starting the campaign as a regular under Wayne Rooney, before finding game time harder to come by in recent months.

The former Manchester City man has scored just the once all season, and has largely frustrated the Green Army during a year which has seen them battling relegation for the majority of the time.

Leeds signed the player for a reported £5 million back in 2022, with his four-year contract at Elland Road set to elapse next summer, meaning there could be questions marks arising over his future in the coming months.

After two loan spells at Home Park, the possibility of a permanent move to Devon could well be bandied about over the coming months, but there will be a number of considerations that Argyle need to take into play when deciding over a move for the loanee.

Darko Gyabi £5k weekly wage, £260k annual expenditure

As always, Argyle are run with a fine eye being run over the finances, with Simon Hallett’s tenure in charge of the football seeing the Greens continuing to swim against the tide in terms of throwing money down the drain in the hope of success.

The Pilgrims won’t be chucking funds left, right and centre at players during the off-season, whichever division they find themselves in next season, meaning every player contract and transfer deal will have to be justified ahead of the 25/26 campaign.

Capology estimates that Gyabi is on £5,000 a week at Home Park right now, which equates to £260,000 a year, and costing Argyle the same amount as top scorer Ryan Hardie.

When you consider the impact the two players have had on the season, the Scot’s six goals have played their part in some crucial victories over the past few weeks, while Gyabi’s role is still under scrutiny, with many fans perplexed about his actual role in the middle of the park.

Compared to a top earner like Bali Mumba - who is said to be on £15,000 a week - the Leeds loanee is a drop in the ocean, but it very much feels like those funds will be used on other options this summer, as Miron Muslic puts his own stamp on the side.

Where Darko Gyabi fits in under Miron Muslic

While he has almost been forced back into the fold due to a three-game suspension for academy graduate Adam Randell recently, Gyabi has struggled for game time since Muslic has come in, with Jordan Houghton largely preferred in the engine room.

The England under-21 international was a regular under Rooney at the start of the season, but a fragility in the middle of the park often left the Greens exposed, with Gyabi often seen as something of a passenger when his side are out of possession.

The young star looks reactive rather than proactive when his side don’t have the ball, meaning the opposition have time and space to create attacks at will, and carve right through the heart of the Greens time and time again.

While there has been signs of improvement under Muslic - who focuses on intensity and aggression all over the park - it would be hard to see a world where the Austrian wants Gyabi back at Home Park next summer, with plenty of other options likely to top the recruitment list in his place.

Malachi Boateng joined from Hearts in the January transfer window, which was an early sign of the new Argyle boss’s demands to add extra rigidity in the central areas, but as yet the 22-year-old has failed to establish himself in the starting XI in his new surroundings.

Muslic wants his midfield pairing to combative and aggressive, while being able to spring forward to join attacks when his side are in possession, and Gyabi is yet to prove he has what it takes to play in such a way right now.

He could well be a great fit for another Championship team that can take more liberties in and out of possession, but right now he can’t be a player Argyle are looking at taking on full time, while Leeds may be left questioning their outlay three years ago.