“Would love” – Finn Azaz named in Plymouth Argyle player return debate
Part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, this piece offers our FLW Fan Pundits their personal thoughts on the newest breaking news, teams, players, managers, possible additions, and more.
Finn Azaz, a playmaker for Middlesbrough, has been named as the best former Plymouth Argyle player to rejoin Wayne Rooney’s current Championship team.
Although Azaz presently plays at Riverside Stadium, Boro acquired him after he had successful loan stints at Argyle in 2022–2023 and 2023–2024.
The attacking midfielder signed a contract extension with Villa and rejoined Argyle before their return to the second division after joining Plymouth on loan from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022. He played a significant role in the Pilgrims’ League One title-winning campaign under Steven Schumacher during his first season at Home Park.
He was just as good for the Greens in the Championship, but he only played for Devon for half a season before being called up to Villa in January and sold to Boro for almost £2.5 million, which severely hurt Plymouth’s season.
Under Michael Carrick, Azaz has maintained his success in the second division on Teesside. He is expected to be a key part of their bid for promotion this season, and a respectable career at the highest level is undoubtedly in store for him in the years to come.
Finn Azaz named in Plymouth Argyle player return debate
With three goals and an assist in his first five league games, Azaz made an immediate impression at Home Park. This was not surprising considering his stellar loan performances at Newport County the season before.
He concluded the season with eight goals and ten assists in 39 games across all competitions, which was more than enough to earn him another loan term in the Championship for 2023–2024. However, he sustained an ankle injury halfway through the League One campaign, which slowed down the second half of his season.
With his contract with Aston Villa set to expire at the end of the season, Azaz was once again Argyle’s key man, but this time in the second division. He scored seven goals and provided five assists in 26 games during the first half of the season, drawing interest from other teams who may want to sign him permanently.
After he was called back to Villa Park, Boro paid £2.5 million for his services. When we asked Azaz for one former player he would bring back to the current team if given the chance, FLW’s resident Greens fan pundit, Chris, chose Azaz as the player he would resign for Argyle.
“If given the chance, I’m sure a lot of Argyle supporters would love to see a certain player return to the team,” Chris told FLW.
Michael Cooper, who recently left for Sheffield United in the summer for an estimated two million pounds with add-ons, might be chosen by some.
Personally, I would love to see Irish international Finn Azaz return, as he is one of my favourite attacking midfielders from the past several seasons.
In addition to helping us secure several significant wins in the Championship last season, which helped us maintain our league standing, Finn was instrumental in our League One promotion-winning campaign.
In light of this, Middlesbrough quickly acquired him, and he has so far shown himself to be a productive playmaker for their squad.
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Along with scoring some incredible goals, especially his final goal for the team before leaving for Boro, he was a player who provided some excellent midfield-attack link-up play.
“But given how well he is performing at Middlesbrough and the cost they would charge to bring him back, I find that extremely unlikely.”
Azaz’ recent form shows how important he would be to Argyle right now
Few Championship players are more productive than Azaz at the moment, and Argyle would benefit much from his impressive performances at Boro thus far this season if he were still in the team.
The Irish international has scored more goals and provided more assists in the second division than any other Argyle player in the nearly year since his departure, and the only man to surpass his 12 goal total this season is Borja Sainz of Norwich City, with 13.
| Finn Azaz’ 2024/25 Championship statistics so far (FBref) | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 16 |
| Goals | 5 |
| Assists | 7 |
| Progressive passes per 90 | 5.97 |
| Shots on target per 90 | 1.44 |
| Shot-creating actions per 90 | 5.83 |
| Goal-creating actions per 90 | 0.79 |
The 24-year-old is proving to be one of the EFL’s most resolute and clinical final-third operators. Although a move to the Premier League is undoubtedly imminent, Argyle will be regretting Villa’s January recall if he does not make it to the top tier with Boro.
Currently ranked 19th in the Championship, Wayne Rooney’s team lacks an attack-minded midfielder like Azaz and may find it difficult to produce moving forward due to Ibrahim Cissoko’s injury problems.
Few teams in the second division wouldn’t sign Azaz if given the chance, and although Plymouth fans will be happy that he spent some time honing his skills at Home Park, it will hurt that they aren’t still taking advantage of his obvious skills, especially since he is still making an impression at a Championship team.
