Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher, after completing a historic deal for Morgan Whittaker in July, was in no doubt that the one-time Rangers target would be more than worthy of becoming the Championship club’s all-time record signing.
“It’s a big outlay for us but I think he will be worth it,” Schumacher told the BBC, acting with the sort of speed often synonymous with his surname to bring Whittaker back to Home Park after a superb loan spell in 2022/23.
“He’s a good player and he’s definitely going to bring some much-needed quality to our team.”
Flash forward a couple of months and Schumacher’s comments feel increasingly, and impressively, prescient. The former Swansea City winger now has seven goals in 14 Championship starts, including three in his last three. A trademark curling finish when cutting in from the left helped earn Plymouth a hard-earned point against Middlesbrough last time out, and Devon’s answer to Arjen Robben the club’s Player of the Month award for the second month in a row.
“It’s an amazing feeling to get the award,” Whittaker beams, now the joint-fourth top scorer in England’s second tier.
“To win it twice in two months, especially when it is voted for by the fans, means a lot. Hopefully I can keep the form going, keep playing well and we can get some more wins.”
According to Fabrizio Romano, Rangers made three bids for Whittaker back in January, Swansea even rejecting an offer worth £2 million. And, with a resurgent Scott Wright joining Rabbi Matondo on the sidelines, how Philippe Clement could do with a player of his creativity, guile and goal-threat right now, Rangers still yet to find a catch-all solution to that long-running right-wing problem.
He has been getting himself into good areas,” Schumacher adds (Plymouth Herald).
“I just want him to be him. He loves playing for us. He enjoys the working environment he’s in more than where he was previously (at Swansea), and I think that way then you get a better outcome from his performances because he’s happy.
“And, for Morgan, that’s the main thing.”
With Whittaker in superb form and with Plymouth now five points above the relegation zone, happiness is certainly not in short supply at Home Park right now
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