Academy Alumni

Jack Stephens made a name for himself at the centre of Southampton’s Premier League defence for several years, but the former England youth international’s story began at Argyle in 2005.

Following some stellar performances in the Milk Cup (now SuperCupNI), further continued progression through the club’s youth system followed. Jack's growth and development handed him the opportunity to train with the first team as a 16-year-old, and he was soon handed his Home Park debut, coming on as a late substitute in a 3-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

After some impressive performances, Jack’s Argyle story came to an end after the conclusion of the 2010/11 season when Southampton came calling. On his arrival at St Mary’s, he joined the club’s development squad and, the following season, was promoted to the first-team on their arrival to the Premier League.

Regular appearances were hard to come by in the 2012/13 season, which resulted in several loan spells to gain valuable playing time with Swindon Town, Middleborough and Coventry City.

At the start of the 2016 season, Jack took his opportunity well and featured 17 times for the Saints in league action under Claude Puel. He was a key squad member for years to come and regularly played in the Premier League, including during a season-long loan with Bournemouth in 2022.

Following his move to Southampton as a youngster, Stephens also found opportunities with the England youth set-up. He featured 17 times for the Three Lions from Under-18s to Under-21s, scoring his only goal against Italy at St Mary's.

An EFL Championship winner and Premier League regular for Bournemouth, Dan Gosling is a name known to many in Devon, but also across the whole UK.

Gosling’s time in green was short but sweet. The midfielder from Torbay was signed to Argyle’s Academy whilst playing for his hometown club Brixham United. Just a few years after joining the Pilgrims, Gosling etched his name in the history books, making his professional debut at the age of 16 years and 310 days, as the fourth youngest debutant for Argyle.

Whilst playing in front of the Green Army, Gosling’s 22 appearances and two goals handed him the opportunity to represent his country, making seven combined appearances for England under-17s and -18s. He also won the Plymouth Herald's Young Sports Personality of the Year.

The midfielder started the 2007/08 season with Argyle, but in January left the South West to join Everton on a two-and-a-half-year deal. Despite not featuring for the Toffees for the remainder of the season, he continued to represent England at youth level.

After a year, and only 10 games at the pinnacle of English football, a golden opportunity arose. Gosling was invited to be a part of the England under-19 squad for the 2009 Euros, where they finished as runners-up to Ukraine.

Fast forward to the present, and Gosling boasts nearly two decades of Premier League and Championship experience with Everton, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, and more, since leaving Home Park in 2007.

He is now working as an under-21s assistant for Watford under former Bournemouth teammate Charlie Daniels.

Athens-born Klaidi Lolos has had a youth and professional career unlike many others, but now, after crafting his trade in the National League system, he finds himself starring for Peterborough United.

Growing up in Greece, kids dreamt about playing for top sides like Olympiacos and AEK Athens, and that soon became a reality for Klaidi. He joined Olympiacos at the age of nine, but after just two years, left the club. Four years later, Lolos moved to Crystal Palace’s youth setup, but again lasted only two years.

Following a trial in the midlands, then-Argyle Academy Director Kevin Hodges scouted the Greek forward, with Klaidi joining on a youth apprenticeship in 2017.

After two years of development as a young Pilgrim, which included the famous victory on penalties over Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup alongside Academy graduates Mike Cooper and Adam Randell, Lolos signed a professional contract with the club.

He scored his only goal for Argyle in the 2020 season, joining Torquay United the following year. It was to be a move to National League South side Oxford City that reignited his professional career.

A 16-goal season helped Oxford reach the play-off semi-finals, and caught the eye of League Two side Crawley Town, where he signed a two-year deal. Following an extremely successful season, Crawley travelled to Wembley for the first time and won, securing a spot in League One for the following season.

The following summer Lolos completed a move to fellow League One side Bolton Wanderers, featuring nine times in the 2024/25 season, and has now moved on to Peterborough. 

Sam Gallagher’s time at Home Park helped pave the way for his long-standing EFL career, which has seen him play alongside Euro semi-finalist goal scorer Ollie Watkins.

The Crediton-born striker was a part of Argyle’s Academy for six years before Southampton’s youth set-up poached him, just a year after signing Jack Stephens from the Greens.

However, before moving to the Saints, Sam had the opportunity to play for the Devon FA in an attacking partnership with current England and Aston Villa forward Watkins.

It took just a single year after moving up the South Coast for a first-team appearance to come his way, and soon enough, the forward was leading the line for Southampton against Arsenal in Premier League action. An England youth team call-up followed two weeks after his full debut against the Gunners, with Gallagher scoring two goals in seven games across his two years with the Young Lions.

Gallagher was loaned out to MK Dons, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City, with the biggest impact coming in the north of the country for Blackburn.

These stellar performances in his loan year at Ewood Park resulted in a permanent transfer to Rovers prior to the 2019/20 season, and in his five years he featured 174 times, scoring 34 goals.

In July 2024, Gallagher joined fellow Sky Bet Championship side Stoke City for an undisclosed fee.

Michael Cooper was a Pilgrim from the age of nine. He came through the Argyle Centre of Excellence, then the Academy system, and was long considered to be a huge prospect, which soon turned out to be correct.

Mike’s senior debut for Argyle came in extraordinary circumstances. Just two weeks after he turned 18, Cooper was the substitute goalkeeper for Argyle, away at Blackburn Rovers, coming on as a substitute for the injured Kyle Letheren. In the second half, under severe pressure, he kept Rovers out, carrying Argyle to a 1-1 draw. 

His second league appearance came in equally dramatic circumstances. Cooper replaced Matt Macey in the 63rd minute of the final game of the 2018/19 season, against Scunthorpe United. Once again, Cooper kept the opposition out, and this time Argyle won the game, but it was not enough to avoid relegation that season. 

After adding a handful of cup appearances to his tally in 2019/20, Cooper was named as Argyle’s first-choice goalkeeper at the start of the 2020/21 Sky Bet League One season and went on to make 121 consecutive league starts before a knee injury at Sheffield Wednesday ended his run, and his 22/23 campaign in the process.

He had still done enough to earn the accolade of Argyle's Player of the Season, winning the award for the second year in a row. Blessed with exceptional reactions and superb distribution, Cooper was a commanding presence for Argyle within his penalty area. 

The highly-rated goalkeeper was named in the Sky Bet League One Team of the Season for 2022/23, marking the second year in succession he was considered the best goalkeeper in his division by his peers. 

In August of 2024, Cooper completed a move away from Home Park, joining Sheffield United. In his debut season at Bramall Lane, he was named Player of the Season, after keeping 23 clean sheets in 43 appearances.

Classy midfielder Adam Randell is one of the recent success stories of the Argyle Academy.

As an apprentice at Home Park, Randell defied his, at the time, diminutive size to display maturity beyond his years and earn a professional contract, spending much of his first year as a pro in Argyle’s reserve team, in the Peninsula League. 

His debut came in the EFL Trophy against Newport County in November 2018, and in the following season he made a handful of appearances in that competition, the EFL Cup and the league. However, it could be argued that the 2020/21 season, away from Home Park, became the making of him. 

Randell went on loan to Torquay United, in the National League. He started as a fringe player, occasionally playing wide on the right, and he finished it as an integral part of a squad that very nearly regained league status. Adam was named as the Gulls’ Young Player of the Year. 

Returning to Home Park for 2021/22, he steadily increased his game time, scored his first goal for the Greens - a free-kick away at Sheffield Wednesday - and became more and more important to the squad. 

By 2022/23, he was a regular starter, and played 33 times, starting 29, as Argyle won promotion from Sky Bet League One. He scored four goals – all away from home – and none more iconic than the first of Argyle’s three as the Pilgrims clinched the title with a 3-1 win at Port Vale on the final day of the season. 

He missed just one game in Argyle’s return season in the Championship, again scoring four times, this time including his one and only goal at Home Park, a dramatic late winner against Stoke City. 

In a turbulent 2024/25 season, Randell was a standout performer in Argyle’s midfield, showing the reliability, tenacity and passion that has been his staple throughout his tenure, captaining the Greens through a portion of the campaign.

Now, Adam is a key part of Bristol City’s midfield in the Championship, after making the move to the Robins in the summer of 2025.

Lloyd Jones has had a busy EFL career, with multiple loan spells, but has now solidified his place with Charlton Athletic in the Sky Bet Championship.

The Plymouth-born defender signed with Argyle’s Academy as a ten-year-old and was touted as a professional in the making from an early age. He captained the SuperCupNI squad in 2010 that contained Sam Gallagher, Christian Walton, Ben Purrington, Tyler Harvey, Louis Rooney and River Allen, to name a few.

He was prised away from Home Park at 16 by Premier League giants Liverpool for a six-figure fee and impressed in the Academy at Anfield, eventually signing his first professional contract with the Merseysiders in 2013.

Jones originally represented Wales at under-17 level, netting one goal in 11 appearances, before being promoted to the under-19 setup in Cardiff. After rejecting a call-up to the Welsh Under-21 side, he switched allegiance to England in late 2013 and has since represented the Three Lions at Under-19s and Under-20s level.

In the same season that he broke into the England Under-20 set-up, Jones impressed his club enough to become the Reds’ reserve team captain towards the end of the 2014 campaign.

After, however, Jones was sent out on multiple loans to Cheltenham Town, Accrington Stanley, Blackpool and Swindon Town, before his time in Liverpool came to an end, as he made the move down south to sign for Luton Town. He later returned to Home Park for a short loan spell in 2019.

Fast forward five years, and now Jones sees himself playing week-in, week-out for Charlton in the Championship after achieving promotion with the club in the 2025 League One play-offs.

Ben Purrington is a name known to many Argyle fans, and for good reason.

The left-sided player came through the Argyle Academy after signing for the Pilgrims at the age of nine. Born in Exeter, Purrington progressed through the age groups and was eventually rewarded with his first professional contract in 2013, 12 years after making the move to Home Park.

Three games after making his debut against Oxford United, Ben scored his first goal in green in an FA Cup tie against Port Vale. In 2017, he departed from PL2 after Rotherham came calling, having played 64 times for the Greens. 

After playing half a season of Championship football, Rotherham were relegated to League One, and Purrington soon found himself chasing game time but was given the chance to join AFC Wimbledon on loan.

He made 26 appearances for the Dons before being recalled and sent out to Charlton Athletic on loan, which turned into a permanent move in the summer.

Now Ben features for Cambridge United after making over 250 appearances in England and Scotland, and becoming a trustworthy part of any team's left side.