Plymouth Argyle supporters need to have patience with seven-figure signing: View | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle have had a few players divide opinions amongst the supporters upon the club’s promotion back to the Championship.

One of the players in question is Bali Mumba, a talented wing-back who arrived for big money and that price tag came with a lot of question marks.

The PAFC faithful need to stick by the 22-year-old in this difficult patch, though, and here is why.

Bali Mumba’s impressive first season

Bali Mumba arrived in Devon on loan last year and excelled under the management of Steven Schumacher.

Mumba was a part of an excellent cohort of loanees that also featured recent Middlesbrough signing Finn Azaz and a certain Morgan Whittaker.

Argyle spent big in relative terms upon winning the League One title, signing the versatile wide-man for a club-record seven-figure fee, as well as spending a similar amount to bring Whittaker back on board from Swansea City.

This duo represented a very promising summer transfer window.

Whilst Whittaker has gone from strength-to-strength in green and white, contributing to 24 league goals to date, it has hardly been plain sailing for his good friend Mumba.

The former Norwich City man scored six and assisted 10 last year, but has failed to achieve similar levels of success this time around, especially when compared to the other big-money signing.

It goes without saying that Mumba plays a deeper role and wouldn’t be expected to be as effective in the final third, but he has still occupied the left-wing on occasion and there are potential issues with his game going both ways.

Argyle supporters standing by the youngster

As previously mentioned, Mumba has been asked to play in a few different positions under both Schumacher and new boss Ian Foster this year.

13 of his appearances have come as a left-winger, with four of his goal contributions coming from that area. Meanwhile, he has also played six times as a left wing-back, six times as a right wing-back and then a handful of times spread across left-back, right-winger and right-back.

This inconsistency in his positioning comes partly because the youngster has been unable to lock down a regular starting spot of his own, but it can only be doing damage to his game when it comes to building up a head of steam.

In the last month or two, the Home Park faithful have made their displeasure known about Mumba, the recent defeat against his former employers Sunderland maybe being one of his lesser performances in an Argyle shirt.

With seven of nine duels won and a 91% pass accuracy, the statistics look solid on the surface, but he was easily beaten by both Jack Clarke and Jobe Bellingham for their respective goals.

Another game which saw Mumba on the receiving end of criticism was the 2-2 draw with Coventry City. He came off the bench and added very little to the cause, a few meaningless involvements and the foul for the free-kick that led to Coventry’s equaliser being the extent of his action.

It is easy to jump on a player who is in something of a rut, but Argyle supporters have to remember that the man in question is only young, and he has enjoyed a generally positive stint for the club.

Mumba assisted Whittaker’s goal in the draw with Huddersfield Town last month, and put up a great fight in the two FA Cup clashes with Leeds United.

As Argyle held Daniel Farke’s side to a draw at Elland Road, the 22-year-old had the most tackles and won the most duels in the game, with five and nine respectively. The replay may have ended 4-1, but Mumba was still able to create three chances and win four of five ground duels.

The stats from his recent outings show that Mumba truly is a well-rounded player, even if there has been a blip or two in 2024.

It is understandable why the Argyle fanbase is getting a bit antsy towards Mumba and the team in general, but they must show more patience towards the flying wing-back.