New blow will leave Plymouth Argyle with fresh Lewis Gibson regret | OneFootball

The Greens are remarkably short at the back right now, and must be ruing Gibson's departure for Preston North End

Plymouth Argyle are a team in dire straits across the board at the minute, with points, positivity, and playing personnel all in short supply.

The Greens remain rooted to the bottom of the table as it stands, with a 5-0 trouncing at home to Burnley rubbing salt into the wounds in midweek, with Miron Muslic still searching for his first victory as Argyle boss since taking over from Wayne Rooney earlier in the month.

The Austrian has something of an impossible task on his hands right now, with players dropping like flies on the pitch, as well as the continued controversy surrounding Morgan Whittaker’s move away from the club.

With just two fit defenders to choose from for the visit of the Clarets on Wednesday night, Argyle must have been regretting the departure of Lewis Gibson earlier in the month, with the centre-back joining Preston North End just days into the new year after the Lilywhites met the Pilgrims' release clause.

Brendan Galloway blow leaves Plymouth Argyle lacking defensive options

Argyle were already light on their feet when it came to defensive personnel, before the news that Brendan Galloway will be ruled out for the rest of the campaign after suffering an injury in the 1-1 draw with Oxford United recently.

The Zimbabwe international requires surgery on his upper leg and has played his last minutes of the 24/25 campaign, with Miron Muslic left cursing his luck in his first game in charge of the Greens.

"It's terrible news," the Austrian told BBC Sport.

Muslic added: "He was in a good way, he played defensively very strong, so that's another that we're going to miss - not only his quality but also his personality and his mentality."

Galloway joins fellow defender Kornel Szucs on the sidelines, with the Hungarian unavailable for the last four matches in all competitions, while right-back and club captain Joe Edwards has been out of action since October.

With Victor Palsson and Julio Pleguezuelo the only two fit defenders at the football club right now, Muslic is up against it right from the start at Home Park, with his preferred 3-5-2 system unable to be implemented as he would wish, and results struggling to come as a result.

Plymouth Argyle must regret Lewis Gibson release clause

While the reported £1.5 million sale to Preston North End will have seen the club make plenty of profit off of a player they picked up on a free transfer back in the summer of 2023, Argyle lost a key member of their defensive line at a crucial part of the season and are now left picking up the pieces.

Gibson had been one of the standout performers for the Pilgrims during his first year at Home Park, and continued to remain professional during the tenure of Rooney, where even more pressure was put on the backline, particularly away from home.

While that sum of money may well be reinvested back into the playing squad at some point, the short-term effects have been massive on the Devon outfit, with a patchwork defensive unit failing to gel as they get to grips with the demands of their new manager.

Inserting that release clause into Gibson’s contract 18 months ago may have seemed like a sure fire way of earning some extra cash, but when push came to show, the Argyle hierarchy has left its team in the lurch, with Muslic facing the full brunt of it just days into his tenure at Home Park.

Nobody could have foreseen the injuries to Galloway [pictured] and Szucs, granted, but now Argyle have more than a mountain to climb to get themselves out of the mess they find themselves in, with Julio Pleguezuelo and Victor Palsson currently the men plugging the gaps at the back.

The pair would have been considered fourth and fifth choice for a starting berth at points this season, and are now thrown into the deep end, with new arrival Tymoteusz Puchacz operating as an emergency centre-back in midweek, after shifting inside from his usual left-back role.

There are talks of new arrivals, although Mike Eerdhuijzen is said to be dragging his heels about a move from Sparta Rotterdam, but any new face is going to have to hit the ground running, because the Pilgrims don’t have time to waste if they are going to beat the drop.