Compared to the carnage of 2025, it felt like a much quieter summer at Home Park. That’s not to say, however, that Plymouth Argyle haven’t been busy where required. There have been arrivals all over the pitch, with Murphy Cooper and James Storer filling the void in goal, Alex Hartrige brought in as a defensive reinforcement, and Harvey White coming into the heart of the midfield. Additionally, Alex Mitchell and Wes Harding signed on permanent terms following loan spells last season.
However, one thing had been conspicuous by its absence: there had been no incomings in the attacking areas. It already felt apparent that Argyle would need to sign at least one attacking player over the summer, and Lorent Tolaj’s departure to Bristol City turned that ideal into a necessity. Director of football Derek Adams needed to act. To his credit, he has.
After several strikers were linked with a transfer to Home Park, the Greens made their move for Will Evans. The 29-year-old penned a two-year deal with Argyle on Friday after a £400,000 fee was agreed with Mansfield Town. And it’s clear the club rate their new arrival very highly, demonstrated by the fact he’s been handed the number 9 shirt after it was vacated by Tolaj.
To manage expectations, Evans isn’t going to be a direct replacement for Tolaj. The Swiss striker was clearly a special talent for this level, and the two players have different qualities. However, Evans is talented in his own right. And, as we’ll eventually see, he could prove to be an excellent addition if everything comes together.
Climbing through the ranks
Some players are clearly destined to be footballers from an early age. For others, the journey is very different. They won’t show supreme talent in their younger days, but will gradually build and eventually realise their potential much further down the line. Evans very much fits into the latter “late bloomer” category.
Evans has told stories about being required to milk cows on the family farm whenever his brothers were away. No wonder Paul Berne was willing to sanction this deal.
Evans was a youth player at Shrewsbury Town, but after being released he ended up spending his time working on his family’s farm. He’s told stories about being required to milk cows on said farm whenever his brothers were away. No wonder Paul Berne was willing to sanction this deal.
Taking a standard route through academia, Evans enrolled at Cardiff Metropolitan University. There, he learned they not only had a football team, but they’re somewhat different to most other university clubs. Cardiff Met FC play in the top tier of Welsh football, and occasionally even find themselves qualifying for European competitions. While Evans was on the books, they were only knocked out of the Europa League on away goals, by a Progres Niederkorn side who once eliminated Glasgow Rangers.
Upon graduating, Evans moved to fellow Cymru Premier side Bala Town. Here, football was more than just a hobby, but still very much part-time, and he was on the hunt for teaching jobs to complement his on-field exploits. Here though, things really took off for Evans the footballer. He impressed, and earned a move to Newport County in the EFL. In doing so, he signed his first contract in professional football at the age of 24.
He’s gone from strength to strength since. Evans performed well at Newport, spending a considerable period of time under the tutelage of former Argyle defender Graham Coughlan. He then moved up a league in joining Mansfield, and helped the Stags achieve a tenth-placed finish in League One last season. Now, he makes the most significant move of his career, to the biggest club he’s ever played for, at the age of 29.
Evans has not yet been a professional for five years, and it’s arguable that he’s never gone through a season without improving on the previous one.
I think that’s important context when considering the type of player Argyle have signed. Some criticism has surrounded the fact that Evans doesn’t necessarily have a great deal of resale value, at least compared to the profile of player Argyle tend to target. Whilst that does have an element of truth, he’ll fancy his chances of continuing to improve. Evans has not yet been a professional for five years, and it’s arguable that he’s never gone through a season without improving on the previous one.
Rickie Lambert is often referenced in these circumstances. Yes, he’s an exception rather than the rule, but he acts as an example that some players peak well into their 30s. Given the lack of miles in his legs compared to others who have been professionals since their teenage years, there’s no reason why Evans can’t be that sort of player.
The finishing point
Career paths provide useful context, but football fans demand results now. As a striker, Evans will be judged on his goalscoring, and there are conflicting stats on how well he’s finished chances in recent years. It’s one of those where your conclusions will probably depend on your natural level of optimism.
We’ll start with the most basic stat: Evans scored eight league goals from 45 appearances last season. To be completely blunt, that isn’t good enough. It amounts to 0.22 goals per 90 minutes, which is comfortably short of what Argyle’s striking options managed last year. That’s true even if we include Caleb Watts, who didn’t spend as much time playing up front.
| Player | League goals per 90 |
| Bim Pepple | 0.67 |
| Lorent Tolaj | 0.58 |
| Owen Oseni | 0.53 |
| Caleb Watts | 0.35 |
| Will Evans* | 0.22 |
Another problematic stat for Evans has been the quality of his finishing. Last season, his eight league goals came from an xG total of 13.63, marking an underperformance of 5.63 goals. Comparatively, all of Argyle’s strikers either overperformed or performed as expected (in the case of Tolaj) against their xG. Evans also posted lower shot accuracy and shot conversion figures than any of Argyle’s strikers last term.
| Player | Shots taken | Shots on target | Shot accuracy |
| Owen Oseni | 27 | 19 | 70% |
| Caleb Watts | 42 | 19 | 45% |
| Lorent Tolaj | 101 | 42 | 42% |
| Bim Pepple | 71 | 28 | 39% |
| Will Evans* | 76 | 24 | 32% |
| Player | Shots taken | Goals | Shot conversion |
| Owen Oseni | 27 | 7 | 26% |
| Bim Pepple | 71 | 16 | 23% |
| Lorent Tolaj | 101 | 17 | 17% |
| Caleb Watts | 42 | 6 | 14% |
| Will Evans* | 76 | 8 | 12% |
So the picture, at the moment, doesn’t look terrific. Add in the fact that he’s already missed a relative sitter against Exeter City, and you can see why there are fears this trend may continue. However, I think there is significant mitigation to bring to the table, which works heavily in Evans’ favour.
First of all, we need to consider how clubs treat xG statistics. For supporters, there will always be a “can’t hit a barn door” element when players are missing big chances on a regular basis. Nowadays though, clubs place a significant weight on how many goals a player ought to have scored, and take it as reassurance that the player is getting into good positions regardless of their eventual goalscoring number.
We’ve all heard the line before, and I believe it carries truth: a striker missing chances is a far better sign than a striker having no chances at all. Argyle will have looked at Evans’ xG figure of 13.63 (higher than Pepple in the league last season) and concluded that if he overperformed, or even simply performed as expected, the £400,000 fee would suddenly seem like excellent value for money.
Secondly, and probably crucially given the above point, Evans has proved in his career that he is able to perform favourably against his xG. In that sense, last season was very much an exception to the rule.
Evans has had four seasons as a professional. In that time, he’s overperformed in two seasons and underperformed in the two others. Overall, his tally of 45 league goals actually slightly exceeds his xG..
| Will Evans | Goals | xG | Performance |
| 2022-23 | 2 | 4.06 | -2.06 |
| 2023-24 | 21 | 14.29 | +6.71 |
| 2024-25 | 14 | 10.59 | +3.41 |
| 2025-26 | 8 | 13.63 | -5.63 |
| Total | 45 | 42.57 | +2.43 |
The differences between 2023-24 and 2025-26 tell the story perfectly. According to xG, Evans should have scored 0.66 more goals in 2023-24 than he did in 2025-26. The actual difference was 13.
There can be several reasons for differences in xG performance. Confidence undeniably plays a role, and occasionally a simple helping of good fortune (or lack thereof) can have a huge impact. Argyle will be hoping that, if their new arrival gets on a run, his outputs can head in the right direction again. If that happens, Evans’ fee could begin to look like a bargain.
Profile of a grafter
If the negative feedback from Mansfield supporters was on Evans’ finishing, the positives centred around comments on his work rate. Whether they rated him as a goalscorer or not, no fans from Evans’ previous clubs have had a bad word to say about how he puts himself about and is willing to get involved.
I can see why he’s got that reputation. There’s the clichéd “rags to riches” story of becoming a professional footballer after working on a farm. But Evans also made an impression when looking at sprints last season. Owen Oseni was the only Argyle striker to make more sprints per 90 last term than Evans’ 18.2.
| Player | Sprints per 90 |
| Owen Oseni | 18.7 |
| Will Evans* | 18.2 |
| Lorent Tolaj | 17.7 |
| Caleb Watts | 17.6 |
| Bim Pepple | 16.8 |
Interestingly, that doesn’t necessarily translate to distance covered per 90, where Evans only ranks fourth against Argyle’s crop of strikers. It perhaps suggests that (some) supporters have fallen into a familiar trap of assuming that running quickly means running a lot; it isn’t always the case.
| Player | Distance covered per 90 |
| Caleb Watts | 9.2 km |
| Owen Oseni | 8.4 km |
| Bim Pepple | 8.4 km |
| Will Evans* | 8.2 km |
| Lorent Tolaj | 8.0 km |
Nonetheless, I do believe Evans fits the grafter profile. His running stats are decent at the very least, his average of 13.71 duels contested per 90 is decent for a striker, whilst he also makes a significant number of defensive contributions. His total per 90 last season was 4.12; it’s not bad in any position, and easily tops the list when compared to Argyle’s crop of strikers.
| Player | Defensive actions per 90 |
| Will Evans* | 4.12 |
| Caleb Watts | 3.26 |
| Lorent Tolaj | 2.24 |
| Owen Oseni | 1.86 |
| Bim Pepple | 1.20 |
Then there’s the style of play element. Evans appears to be the sort of player who likes to make runs off the shoulder of the last defender, demonstrated by the fact he was caught offside 20 times last season – an average of 0.49 times per 90. It suggests to me he’ll bring a willingness to chase down long balls and supposed lost causes, giving him a similar quality to Tolaj and Ryan Hardie. That’s not to say he’ll necessarily do as well at Argyle as either of those two, but it’s encouraging to watch all the same.
Finally, let’s consider his position. Evans was clearly signed as a striker, and I’ve no doubt he’d consider that his favourite role. However, he’s often been willing to fill in across other roles where necessary across his career. That, combined with what we’ve seen about his efforts off the ball, adds more to the belief that Evans will stop at nothing to help his team.
I wonder if Evans should be seen less as a replacement for Tolaj, and more as a replacement for the recently injured Michael Baidoo.
Most notably, those appearances away from the main striker role have come on the left flank. He was deployed as a left winger on several occasions at Mansfield last season, and even played in a wing back role at times during his Newport spell. In fact, there were rumours that he was set to line up as a left wing back at Mansfield this season before he was sold to Argyle. With that in mind, I wonder if Evans should be seen less as a replacement for Tolaj, and more as a replacement for the recently injured Michael Baidoo.
Regardless, Argyle should be confident they have a quality player on their hands. If everything goes well, they’ll have signed a player yet to reach his peak, who’ll work his socks off and get himself into strong goalscoring positions on a regular basis. A lot may have to go right for this to be seen as a truly successful signing, but the reasons outlined above are why it certainly has my approval.
We are proud to be working with Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) as Argyle Life’s Official Charity Partner for the 2026/27 season. You can learn more about CHSW’s work by clicking here, and supporters who would like to make a contribution can do so via our JustGiving page.