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DEREK Adams declared himself “delighted” with the deadline day deal that saw Jake Jervis join Luton Town and believes that Argyle’s transfer-window dealings have left the club in good shape.
Jake’s Wednesday move to the Sky Bet League Two Hatters was the last of seven temporary or permanent Home Park departures since the start of the year, with Toumani Diagouraga, Nadir Ciftci, Nathan Blissett, Gregg Wylde, Callum Rose and Jakub Sokolik all hitting the road.
On the credit side, goalkeeper Remi Matthews’ return on loan from Norwich was the first of an influx that culminated with another loan deal for West Ham United midfielder Moses Makasi on the day the window closed. In between, free agent forward Simon Church and Bristol City loan defender Zak Vyner also arrived.
Derek said: “We’ve taken in four players who we feel will contribute from now until the end of the season.
“We’ve had a very good transfer window. A number of players who were not featuring have moved one; we’ve made a profit; we’ve reduced the wage-bill.
“We can use that money to take in players – free agents – now the window’s closed.
“If we require to go and do that, we will. What happens is a few players terminate their contract early and that allows them to sign for somebody until the end of the season. Over the next week or so, these players pop up. It gives us the opportunity to do any business if we feel we need to.”
Argyle received a substantial fee for Jake, who came to Home Park on a free transfer in the summer of 2015, after Luton activated a buy-out clause in his contract.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” said Derek. “To take someone in for nothing and with five months of the contract to run, it’s excellent business to do. He wasn’t in our team and hasn’t been for a number of weeks now.
“The reason why he wasn’t in the squad was that others were ahead of him.
“When players are not featuring, it allows them to move on. We save wages there and we re-invest.
“We had a situation where the buy-out clause was met. He had the opportunity to stay or go and he chose to go because he’s got a very lucrative contact with Luton.”
Jake’s departure comes after 127 appearances and 31 goals, and Derek said: “He’s played really well for us and scored important goals.
“I signed him twice, at Ross County and at Plymouth, and he’s contributed last season and the season before to getting us to play-off final and getting us promotion.”
Although Derek did not land all his targets, he is clearly content with his squd, going into the final third of the season.
He said: “We’ve got 16 games to go. We’ve got cover all over the pitch. We’ve added some talented players to our squad and we’ve let players leave who weren’t playing for us.
“It was important that we kept the current group of players together, the ones that had been featuring, and we have been able to do that. We’ve taken in Remi Matthews, Vyner, Makasi and Church to the strength of the team.
“If you look at the ones we’ve moved out – Gregg Wylde, Jervis, Ciftci, Sokolik; Callum Rose has gone out on loan; Toums has gone to Fleetwood – we have had a good transfer window where we have been able to take in four players and move out players who either wanted to move out or needed to move out and freed up some money.
“It’s been good.”