If points were handed out for the best, most inspired recruitment in the EFL, then Plymouth Argyle would be even further clear at the top of the League One table. But not even the Pilgrims can claim to have a copybook free of smudges and spots.
Luke Jephcott’s remarkable run of 15 goals in the first half of the 2020/21 season was, at the time, supposed to herald the arrival of an irrepressible penalty-box poacher who’s future lay at a much higher level.
“Luke doesn’t complicate things. A bit like Harry Kane if you like,” former Pilgrims coach Sean McCarthy told Plymouth Live at the time. “I know there are a number of bigger clubs watching him. And he can certainly play Championship.”
Those ‘bigger clubs’ included, to name but a few, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest (The Sun). According to The Athletic, Forest were keeping a very keen eye on the 20-year-old’s progress in England’s third-tier.
Where is Luke Jephcott now nearly two years after Nottingham Forest links?
Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful thing. And, if Plymouth could roll back the clock, they’d have few second thoughts about cashing in on Jephcott there and then. Especially when you factor in a rumoured price-tag of around £5 million.
Because Jephcott’s hot streak proved to be exactly that. A hot streak. A purple patch. The waters are running much colder these days, and there are serious questions about whether or not Jephcott will ever again hit the heights of late-2020.
His tally dropped to 11 across the entirety of 2021/22. And, on deadline day one month ago, Jephcott joined fourth-tier Swindon Town on loan with an option to buy. However much Plymouth want from the Robins, you can bet everything you own on it being a mere fraction of that once-dizzying £5 million asking price.
Jephcott scored only his second Swindon goal in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Newport County. In total, he’s found the net just 16 times in 74 games since Nottingham Forest’s interest came and went.
“Luke Jephcott is likely to be going because, as you have seen, he hasn’t got on the pitch the last couple of games,” Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher said before that Swindon switch; Jephcott having struggled to adapt to his 3-4-2-1 formation.
“It’s just important Luke goes out and plays because he’s a good player. He’s a proven goalscorer, he’s just not playing at the moment in our system. He’s a great lad, he trains well, but he’s no good sitting on the bench. He needs to be playing.”
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