Biggest Plymouth Argyle January blow could still be to come as West Ham, Fulham and co circle: View | OneFootball

January has been quite a destructive month for Plymouth Argyle so far.

Losing their manager and all four summer loan signings in a short space of time has caused them quite the headache and it could still get worse.

With a number of clubs reportedly circling, star forward Morgan Whittaker is a player in demand.

The powers that be at the club deserve a lot of credit for the work they have done and so the fanbase has faith in them to continue driving Plymouth Argyle forward, but retaining Whittaker is a new challenge entirely.

Whittaker demonstrated that he was far too good for League One last season, leading to Swansea City recalling the winger.

This summer, Argyle were able to snap him up permanently though, for a club record fee, and it is proving to be a masterstroke as he has scored 15 goals and provided six assists in 29 games for Argyle this term.

As he continues to deliver in the Championship, there is interest coming in for him from the Premier League now as well as from abroad.

Simon Jones of The Daily Mail has reported that Atalanta are keen on Whittaker, even sending a scout to the recent draw with Huddersfield Town, a game in which the attacker found the back of the net once again.

La Dea already have a few players employed who have previously played in England; Ademola Lookman, Davide Zappacosta, and Gianluca Scamacca being just a few.

In the Premier League, a trio of London teams - Brentford, Fulham and West Ham United - are pursuing the 23-year-old, according to Football Insider.

It is thought that the Bees and West Ham, who have both had success shopping in the EFL in the past, have been monitoring his progress while the Cottagers are now thought to be ready to join the race.

Whether or not a move will be made before the end of the month remains to be seen but Plymouth simply cannot afford to lose their difference-maker.

Whittaker’s future at Home Park

Aston Villa recalling Finn Azaz to sell the Irishman onto Middlesbrough was a major blow for Plymouth while Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Luke Cundle, and Lewis Warrington were the other three loanees to depart Argyle.

The first two featured regularly and will be dearly missed but Everton's Warrington played just twice in the league amidst injury issues.

Losing those four players was disappointing but a permanent departure from Devon for Whittaker would be much worse and could even condemn them to relegation.

With 14 goals and five assists to his name, only Southampton’s Adam Armstrong has contributed to more goals than Whittaker in the Championship (25), whilst Sammie Szmodics of Blackburn Rovers is the only to have outscored him thus far (16).

Whittaker’s impact on this team cannot be overstated, to the point that his influence surpasses that of names such as Graham Carey, Ruben Lameiras, and Freddie Ladapo from recent seasons.

Argyle are currently in a position in the league that they’d be happy with as their survival hopes are firmly in their own hands, but a Premier League switch for Whittaker would completely shift the landscape.

He isn’t just one of the best players in Devon at the moment but one of the best in the whole of the Championship. That means the transfer speculation from much bigger clubs that have been mentioned makes perfect sense at the end of the day but letting him leave this month could be a nail in the coffin for Argyle.

Neil Dewsnip, Simon Hallett, and the other members of the hierarchy are extremely switched-on individuals so there is no doubt that they’d be able to reinvest the money that Whittaker would earn them, but that is hard to sell to the Home Park faithful who are more focused on this current campaign in a league they’ve been away from for over a decade.

It's been a frustrating month for Argyle so far but it seems their biggest January blow could be still to come.