Plymouth Argyle have been active and finalising business. Following defensive reinforcements in the form of Alex Hartridge and former loanee Wes Harding, and the addition of goalkeeper James Storer, the Greens have now added to their ranks in midfield.
That’s with the arrival of Harvey White, who joins following the expiry of his contract at Stevenage. White is a 24-year-old who played a key role in Stevenage’s surprise run to the play-offs last season. Given the interest shown in him following that campaign, his arrival at Home Park is being portrayed as somewhat of a coup for Argyle.
We’ll be the judges of that. Naturally, and quite reasonably, most good judgements will come in time. That said, it’s never too early to delve into some numbers and see what sort of player Argyle could have on their hands.
After all, White has given us a significant sample size to investigate. Across all competitions last season, he made a grand total of 50 appearances, culminating in 4,001 minutes of action. For some reason, detailed stats for an FA Cup appearance against Chesterfield aren’t available, but we can still work with the 3,933 remaining minutes. White is one of few players to be in the same stratosphere as Malachi Boateng for minutes last season (4,105 in the league), so that feels perfectly adequate. What do his numbers show?
Excellent ball striking
There is plenty to investigate and digest when it comes to the numbers. And I started simple, by looking at White’s goals and assists across the 2025/26 campaign. It quickly became apparent that this is a man who certainly knows how to strike a football.
White scored six goals and created seven last year, with his total of 13 goal contributions one fewer than Boateng’s 14 (five goals, nine assists), though White edges his new teammate out on a per 90 basis (0.30 vs 0.29). And of White’s six goals, all but one have come from outside the penalty area.
The pizza cup tax obviously applies here, but his first goal last season came in the competition via a fantastic long-range strike against AFC Wimbledon.
But that wasn’t even the best goal he scored last year. For me, that award goes to an equaliser in Stevenage’s home league meeting with Bradford City. White found the corner with a stunning volley to secure his side an important point.
And his ability to sweetly strike a football extends to dead-ball situations. One goal that particularly caught my eye came against Exeter City, where White found the top corner with a delightful free kick. Given the recent League Cup draw, a repeat would be the perfect way to start the new season.
I don’t think any game demonstrates White’s prowess from set-piece situations better than Stevenage’s trip to Leyton Orient in September. That day, he practically dragged his team over the line single-handedly to secure a vital 3-2 win. Having fallen behind, Stevenage levelled through a White shot (predictably from outside the box), before the 26-year-old assisted both of their other goals in the game from corner kicks.
Given Argyle’s reliance on set pieces in the second half of last season (and I don’t say that disparagingly), that’s possibly the most exciting aspect of this signing. When the Pilgrims signed Ronan Curtis in January, they signed a player who offered a consistent threat with his right-footed set piece delivery. With White, exactly the same is true of his left foot, and his addition will add greater depth to a key method of Argyle’s attacks.
As for his goalscoring? Well, I often groan when the Home Park crowd encourages a player to shoot from 40 yards. I may be a little more forgiving with White on the ball.
Technical encouragement
Being able to strike the ball, either via a long-range shot or a set piece situation, is one thing. But clearly, White will need to contribute across many different situations to be a successful signing. Pleasingly, I’ve seen enough in his numbers to give me confidence about his abilities in possession.
Let’s start with key passes. Across the 49 games for which we have data available, White recorded 85 key passes in total. That’s certainly a solid figure, particularly when you consider that Stevenage weren’t a particularly attacking side, they didn’t shoot regularly, and the opportunities to build up key passes as a result were significantly lessened.
Per 90, White’s figure came in at 1.95. That’d be enough to rank third when compared to Argyle’s squad last term, with only Ronan Curtis and Xavier Amaechi making key passes more frequently. And both, it must be said, played significantly fewer minutes than White, and therefore posted their figures from a much smaller sample size.
| Player | Key Passes per 90 |
| Xavier Amaechi | 3.03 |
| Ronan Curtis | 2.92 |
| Harvey White* | 1.95 |
| Herbie Kane | 1.81 |
| Jamie Paterson | 1.72 |
| Matty Sorinola | 1.58 |
It’s a similar story when it comes to crosses, with balls into the middle proving a key strength in White’s game. Once again, only Amaechi and Curtis attempted more crosses per 90 than White last season. Additionally, when it comes to crosses completed per 90, Curtis was the only Argyle player to beat White’s figure of 2.38.
| Player | Crosses Completed per 90 |
| Ronan Curtis | 2.77 |
| Harvey White* | 2.38 |
| Xavier Amaechi | 1.73 |
| Joe Ralls | 1.58 |
| Matty Sorinola | 1.21 |
| Ayman Benarous | 1.04 |
Most impressive, however, has been White’s crossing accuracy. He completed 34% of his crosses last season, and believe me: that’s impressive. Argyle’s average last year was 25%, with Curtis completing 26% of his crosses, Amaechi posting a figure of 24%, and selected others including Matty Sorinola (22%), Bali Mumba (26%) and Owen Dale (21%) lagging behind the ex-Stevenage man. The numbers suggest White’s crosses are both frequent and accurate, making him particularly dangerous.
Now, it’s obvious that taking Stevenage’s set pieces will have had an impact on some of those numbers, allowing White to build up crosses where others wouldn’t have had the opportunity. However, I’d have two rebuttals to that line of thinking.
First of all, it doesn’t explain the entirety of White’s numbers, particularly when it comes to the accuracy of his crosses. Secondly, the same could be said for some of his competition in this metric. Curtis, for example, took plenty of set pieces and built up his numbers, but anyone who watched him wouldn’t claim he wasn’t creative from open play. No; both White and Curtis have demonstrated an ability to play telling balls into the area, and Argyle’s strikeforce (whoever they may be) will be licking their lips.
Offering enough defensively?
At Stevenage, White wasn’t always used in a traditional midfield double-pivot. Granted, he was at the start of the season, with a 4-2-3-1 seeing him paired with former Argyle man Jordan Houghton at the base of the midfield. However, he was occasionally asked to line up as part of a midfield three. And in the latter stages of the campaign, whilst White was in a two-man midfield, he often had the reassurance of back three in support.
At Argyle, things will naturally be different. All possible indications suggest Tom Cleverley is sticking with the 4-4-2 formation that worked so well in the second half of last season. As such, White may be required to make more of a defensive contribution than he was perhaps accustomed to at Stevenage. Does he have the skills to make it work? Overall, I’d say the news is mixed.
On the surface, White’s numbers defensively and in transition are positive. For instance, his duel success figures – 62% for ground duels and 59% for aerial duels – are both above average by definition. For ground duels in particular he was practically on par with Boateng (63%), who is surely Argyle’s most consistently combative midfielder, and clear of the likes of Bradley Ibrahim (52%) and Joe Ralls (55%). Add in White’s implied tackle success of 75% (about standard), and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction.
The problems start to appear when we consider the frequency of those duels. White hasn’t been contesting duels, and hasn’t been getting involved, to the extent I’d expect for someone in his role.
Let’s use ground duels as an example. Across last season, White contested an average of 3.82 ground duels per 90. That would rank as low as 29th in Argyle’s ranks last term (out of a total of 32 outfield players), and below everyone who played in central midfield for the Greens across the campaign. That’s true even if we extend the definition to those who made minimal appearances in the position.
| Player | Ground Duels Contested per 90 |
| Ayman Benarous | 10.23 |
| Caleb Watts | 10.05 |
| Bradley Ibrahim | 9.69 |
| Brendan Wiredu | 7.63 |
| Caleb Roberts | 7.53 |
| Herbie Kane | 7.05 |
| Joe Ralls | 5.99 |
| Malachi Boateng | 5.99 |
| Joe Edwards | 5.75 |
| Law McCabe | 5.44 |
| Jamie Paterson | 4.73 |
| Harvey White* | 3.82 |
His equivalent number for aerial duels contested – 2.68 per 90 – is at least a little more respectable, but would still only rank 24th amongst Argyle’s squad last year.
| Player | Aerial Duels Contested per 90 |
| Malachi Boateng | 5.70 |
| Ayman Benarous | 5.01 |
| Joe Edwards | 3.72 |
| Brendan Wiredu | 3.41 |
| Caleb Roberts | 3.35 |
| Caleb Watts | 2.97 |
| Joe Ralls | 2.84 |
| Harvey White* | 2.68 |
| Herbie Kane | 2.62 |
| Law McCabe | 2.08 |
| Bradley Ibrahim | 1.92 |
| Jamie Paterson | 1.40 |
This can be viewed in a few different ways. There is a line of argument that White only involves himself in duels when he needs to, and when he’s likely to have the upper hand. Therefore, he’s clever with how he commits himself, and his success rates are positive reinforcement for his methods. A less charitable explanation would be that he hasn’t consistently shown a willingness to “do the dirty work” for his team.
I must admit, I do have further reservations about White’s defensive abilities. Those who were subjected to Stevenage 1-1 Plymouth Argyle on New Year’s Day may recall it was his error that led to Boateng equalising for the Greens.
Now, I suspect White has been signed to play alongside Boateng, and his superior defensive attributes should help. However, White will still need to make his own defensive contribution. Members of a midfield two need to have all-round attributes, and the midfield in the second half of last season was particularly successful because Boateng improved in the weaker attacking aspects of his game, and his various midfield partners proved better defensively than expected.
I hope White is up to the challenge. His work in possession has clearly been excellent and, if he can make the necessary improvements without the ball, he could prove to be a player the Green Army love.