Next season is set to be a very interesting one at Home Park after Plymouth Argyle announced the appointment of Wayne Rooney as their new manager last week.
It’s a rather controversial appointment given the fact that Rooney struggled during his last spell in the Championship with Birmingham City. The Blues’ form under the Manchester United legend was quite frankly awful and that certainly played a significant part in their relegation to League One.
Nonetheless, Plymouth’s board still believe that he has potential and can be the one to carry the club forward. It is unknown what their goals for the forthcoming season are but an obvious one will be preserving their Championship status. Argyle would only just get over the line this season, finishing a sole place as well as a point above the drop zone and will be hoping to be further away from the drop zone next term.
It was an undulating year for the Devon-based side which saw multiple managerial changes which no doubt harmed any sort of momentum that they had built. Fans will be hoping that under Rooney it will be less troublesome for the club and that they can establish themselves as a Championship mainstay.
If they want to do just that, then their recruitment this summer will need to be spot on. Having Rooney as a manager does however give them a certain pull factor that other clubs may not have and with a lower budget than the majority of the league, his appointment could benefit the Pilgrims in that respect.
Argyle are already being linked with some exciting prospects this summer, one of those being Brighton’s Marc Leonard who has starred on loan at Northampton Town over the last two campaigns. At just 22 years-of-age, the versatile midfielder has bundles of potential and could well make the step-up to the Championship next term.
However he could also choose to stay in the third tier if Brighton allow him to leave permanently, with TEAMtalk revealing that ambitious League One newcomers Wrexham are also interested in the midfielder. They are not the only ones joining the race for the young star, with the likes of Preston North End and Hull City also displaying an interest. Leonard is currently valued at just under £400,000 by Transfermarkt but could go for slightly more after his performances for the Cobblers.
Having picked up multiple accolades at Northampton’s end of season awards, Leonard is very much a player on the up and would be a good fit at Plymouth. He may well be the first signing of the Rooney era if they are able to fend off the competition.
Writer’s View
It is hard to see what sort of direction Plymouth may go in due to the appointment of Rooney, but it certainly has risks attached. It does however also have the potential to work out very well but he must hit the ground running if he wants to win over the fans.
Therefore, this is a very important transfer window for the club and they’ll be expected to make numerous signings. If his performances for Northampton were anything to go off, then Leonard certainly has the ability to play in the Championship and due to him looking out-of-favour at the Amex, he could be allowed to make a permanent move away this summer.
The Pilgrims should certainly have a second look at the midfielder and it would be a good signing to get the window underway.
