Plymouth Argyle have confirmed the exit of midfieler Rami Al Hajj to Danish Supaliga outfit Silkeborg IF.
The 23-year-old only joined the Pilgrims last summer, penning a three year deal from another Danish side Odense. It is believed that Plymouth shelled out around £840,000 for his signature.
Al Hajj endured a difficult debut campaign at Home Park, scoring three times in 28 Championship appearances. However, he fell out of favour under Miron Muslic, making just one brief substitute outing in their last 11 fixtures.
He was left out of Tom Cleverley’s pre-season squad for their trip to Austria, prompting the new head coach to address the situation yesterday:
“Rami looks fairly close to a move away from the club. It was pretty apparent to me when I arrived and I sat down with Rami he wanted to move away from the football club, and away from England.
“I think the qualities he has suit other countries. We are all working towards that materialising so we didn’t see it purposeful to bring Rami away with us. That’s the answer for that one.”
Denmark Return Confirmed
The former Swedish youth international did excel in Denmark and is now set to return the league which earned him a move to the Championship. The news was confirmed by Plymouth earlier this afternoon, with the fee undisclosed. However, the deal does include a sell-on clause. In a short statement, the club said:
“Rami Al Hajj has left the club after completing a permanent transfer to Silkeborg IF.
“The transfer is for an undisclosed fee, and includes a sell-on clause.
“The 23-year-old joined Argyle last summer from Odense Boldklub and now returns to the Danish Superliga having made 28 appearances and scoring three goals in his time in green.
“The first of those was a memorable long-range strike in a 3-1 win over Luton Town at Home Park.
“We thank Rami for all his efforts during his time with the club and wish him well for the next stage of his career.”
Writer’s View
Plymouth will be happy to have got this deal done quickly to allow Tom Cleverley ample time to plan for the new season with the players at his disposal. It will be interesting to see how much of the fee they paid last year has been recouped, although they surely would have been in a strong position due to Al Hajj’s form in Denmark with Odense during the 2023/24 season. This is a transfer which just didn’t work out, so it’s best to cut their losses on move on.
