Plymouth Argyle join Blackpool FC in transfer race for Nottingham Forest attacker | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle have joined the race to sign Dale Taylor from Nottingham Forest.

Plymouth Argyle and Blackpool will go head-to-head in the race to sign young Nottingham Forest striker Dale Taylor, according to reports on Sunday morning.

The Northern Irishman has just come off the back of an excellent loan spell at Wigan Athletic where he was voted the club's Player of the Season, after scoring 11 goals and assisting a further seven in 43 League One outings last term.

This has seen plenty of interest arise in Taylor the summer, with Football League World exclusively revealing earlier in July that Steve Bruce's Blackpool were plotting a summer swoop for the striker.

However, a fresh development revealed by journalist Alan Nixon via his Patreon page on Sunday morning suggests that the Seasiders aren't alone in their pursuit of the Forest prospect, as Plymouth are set to battle it out with Blackpool to secure his services.

The two aforementioned clubs are said to be the final two sides in for him, so it will be a straight battle between the two League One promotion hopefuls to add the Belfast-born talisman to their ranks.

Plymouth Argyle and Blackpool set for Dale Taylor transfer battle

Taylor has been at Nottingham Forest since 2020 after joining from Linfield, but has made just one senior competitive appearance for the club.

He has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons in League One on loan with Burton Albion, Wycombe Wanderers, and Wigan respectively.

Whilst his first two loan spells were rather unremarkable, the Northern Ireland international enjoyed a strong stint with the Latics last season, which has seen interest arise from the sharp end of League One this summer.

It was exclusively revealed by FLW that Blackpool were plotting a move to bring Taylor to the club, but are now set to face a direct battle with Plymouth for the eight-time capped striker, according to the latest update from Nixon.

Many wondered whether the 21-year-old would be able to make the step-up to the Championship after finally having a standout season in League One, but it seems another year in the third tier beckons for the Forest prodigy.

It remains unclear whether the agreement will be a simple loan deal, or a permanent move away from the City Ground, but Taylor still has two years to run on his contract with the Premier League outfit.

It's been a summer of huge change at Home Park, with a new manager in Tom Cleverley at the helm, and plenty of new faces in the squad after key players departed following the club's relegation from the Championship.

Argyle have already added two new strikers to their ranks in Owen Oseni and Bim Pepple, but Cleverley hinted that he is keen to sign another to wear the number nine shirt which was left by Ryan Hardie after he moved to Wrexham.

It was no secret that the Pilgrims had their heart set on Burton Albion's Rumarn Burrell, but were dealt a setback on Saturday when the Jamaican was revealed as a Queens Park Rangers player, ending any hope of bringing him to Devon.

This put the Greens back to square one in their search for a new number nine, but Sunday's news regarding Taylor from Nixon will come as a welcome boost to their chances of securing a new striker before the season kicks off in less than a week.