“Plymouth Argyle are looking to make a deadline day move for H. Kane? Yeah, I bet they are!”
Well, sometimes the most unbelievable rumours turn out to have some merit. Ok, whilst his namesake couldn’t be tempted to depart Bayern Munich, Argyle did well to sign Herbie Kane in the final hours of the transfer window. The 27-year-old midfielder has joined from fellow League One side Huddersfield Town, on a loan deal until the end of the season.
It’s been widely rumoured that Argyle have held an interest in Kane for a while. As a graduate of Liverpool’s academy, it’s no surprise that Ryan Lowe was a fan, and it seems that interest continued when Steven Schumacher took the reins. However, when Kane signed for Huddersfield in the summer of 2024, just after the Terriers were relegated from the Championship as Argyle survived, it looked as though any chances of our paths crossing had passed.
But here we are; the stars have aligned, and the Pilgrims have secured a transfer target who has been on their radar for a while. Let’s take the chance to see what Kane may offer, using the stats from his time at Huddersfield, as well as taking a wider look at the entirety of his career.
Significant technical quality
Ever since rumours started to swirl about Kane’s potential move, we’ve heard about his talents from plenty of sources. That includes Huddersfield podcast And He Takes That Chance, who provided a video for our deadline day stream outlining what we can expect from the new recruit.
The main message from that video, and indeed from others who have spoken about Kane, is that he brings important technical attributes. Kane arrives as a ball-playing midfielder, with the impression that he can dictate play from deep positions and play a key role in transitions from defence to attack.
From looking at his stats, I certainly agree. Kane’s strengths clearly appear to lie in his passing, both in volume and in accuracy.
Kane played 36 league games across his time at Huddersfield, culminating in 2,534 minutes of action. His total of 1,179 passes completed averaged 41.87 per 90 minutes. Amongst Argyle players this season only one, Victor Palsson, boasts a higher figure. And, for better or worse, Palsson’s sample size is obviously far smaller.
| Player | Passes Completed per 90 |
| Victor Palsson | 46.92 |
| Herbie Kane* | 41.87 |
| Julio Pleguezuelo | 36.47 |
| Law McCabe | 35.07 |
| Mathias Ross | 30.66 |
| Joe Ralls | 29.63 |
Kane’s pass success is also encouraging. These things can be proportional; a player who completes a high number of passes is likely to have a few simple ones in there, allowing them to stat pad their average. Indeed, Palsson also tops Argyle’s ranks for pass success this season. Still, I think it’s a good sign that only Palsson and Kornel Szucs can beat Kane’s success rate over the last two years of 79%.
Kane really separates himself from the crowd when we look at long passing. He’s completed an average of 3.23 long passes per game at Huddersfield, with Joe Ralls (3.47) and Palsson (3.41) the only players to beat that figure at Argyle this year. However, neither can beat Kane’s success rate.
Instead, two separate Argyle players are the only ones to top Kane in that metric. One is Bim Pepple, whose sample size feels completely irrelevant considering he’s completed one long pass from two attempted. The other, interestingly, is Bali Mumba, who went in the other direction to Kane during the transfer window.
| Player | Long Passes Attempted | Long Passes Completed | Success Rate |
| Bali Mumba | 70 | 41 | 59% |
| Bim Pepple | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Herbie Kane* | 198 | 91 | 46% |
| Caleb Watts | 25 | 11 | 44% |
| Xavier Amaechi | 34 | 14 | 41% |
| Victor Palsson | 20 | 8 | 40% |
I wouldn’t necessarily call Kane a hugely creative player in the traditional sense. His averages for key passes per 90 (1.21) and big chances creates per 90 (0.11) are fairly middling for a player in his position. But whilst he won’t always play defence-splitting passes, he’ll clearly play an important role in working the ball from back to front, and certainly seems to have the ability to spray passes across the field too.
Contrasting physical attributes
If the biggest praise for Kane has been for his technical abilities, perhaps his biggest critics have pointed to his work out of possession. Rightly or wrongly, some have given the impression that he isn’t the hardest-working player, particularly compared to some others who play in central midfield.
I understand some of the concerns, and I’d push back on others. I certainly don’t believe he’s a lazy player. From his numbers, he appears to be intelligent about the duels he enters, and that can bring some genuine success.
Take ground duels as an example. During his time at Huddersfield, Kane contested an average of 6.85 ground duels per 90. It isn’t a huge figure (indeed, it’s probably below average), but it isn’t terrible. To my surprise, it’s actually more than Malachi Boateng has contested this season (5.91 per 90), and only a fool would describe Boateng as a lazy or physically shy player.
Kane’s ground duel success rate sits at 56%. Admittedly, this is where he differs from Boateng, who has succeeded in 66% of his ground duels across the season to date. 56%, however, is absolutely fine. By definition it’s above average, and it’s well in line with the 55% Ralls has posted since his arrival at Home Park.
Things get even better when we consider Kane’s aerial prowess. For a man of around my height (I swear!), Kane’s 62% aerial duel success rate across the last two years is superb. To put that into perspective, Alex Mitchell has won 61% of his aerial duels this year. Of course, Kane doesn’t contest nearly as many (averaging 2.17 per 90), but when he is involved in such a battle, he invariably succeeds.
The one out-of-possession criticism I can understand is more of a technical issue than a physical one. To my eye, Kane doesn’t appear to be the strongest tackler. He completed an average of 1.14 tackles per 90 during his Huddersfield spell, comfortably the lowest of Argyle’s central midfield options this season.
| Player | Tackles per 90 |
| Caleb Roberts | 3.02 |
| Joe Ralls | 2.52 |
| Malachi Boateng | 2.10 |
| Law McCabe | 1.92 |
| Brendan Wiredu | 1.90 |
| Ayman Benarous | 1.67 |
| Herbie Kane* | 1.14 |
Kane won’t shy away from physicality. And when it comes to battles, don’t be surprised if he wins more than he loses. He does come with some drawbacks though, and it’s up to Tom Cleverley to negate them whilst making the most of Kane’s obvious talents.
Fitting into the side
That leads us nicely to the next section. How exactly can Cleverley fit his new arrival into the team to ensure he draws out the best possible performances?
Well, in terms of positioning, the answer is obvious. Kane has made 237 senior appearances across his career, every single one of which has come in some sort of central midfield role. With Cleverley showing no signs of budging from his current 4-4-2 preference, and Argyle only entering the market for a midfielder in the wake of Ralls’ injury, it’s clear that Kane is going to slot directly into the midfield duo.
But will playing in a midfield two suit him? Given Boateng has started every single league game for the Pilgrims this season, the natural assumption is that he’ll form the midfield pairing with Kane. And in theory, that could work well; they’re different types of midfielders, and in an ideal world their combined attributes could see them form a dynamic duo in the centre of the park.
I have to admit though, I’m not fully convinced. When you’re dealing with different midfielders, each with their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, those weaknesses are a lot easier to hide in a midfield three than a midfield two. Without an extra body to assist, such a midfield can rapidly move from the “best of both” scenario outlined in the previous paragraph to the exact opposite, where the weaknesses of both come to the fore.
Let’s think back to the 2018/19 season, where Argyle regularly used a midfield two consisting of the physical Yann Songo’o and the technical David Fox. It didn’t work – Songo’o was so poor technically that Fox needed to provide the entire midfield attacking platform, and Fox’s legs had gone to the extent that Songo’o had to do all the dirty work out of possession. It simply led to both being overwhelmed.
I do at least have faith things won’t be quite as bad this time around. I think it’s reasonable to claim that Boateng is more of an athlete than Songo’o and, based on what we’ve already explored, Kane is clearly more of a physical presence than Fox was in 2018/19. So it shouldn’t be total disaster…but we should perhaps aim the bar slightly higher than that.
What are the alternatives? Well, I’m still keen on seeing how this current squad would operate in a 4-3-3, which could allow Brendan Wiredu or Caleb Watts to join Boateng and Kane in midfield. Or, if they’re both fit at the same time, could Ralls and Kane eventually combine in the middle of a 4-4-2? Now there’s a central midfield that has no business being in the bottom half of League One.
No fitness guarantees
“If they’re both fit at the same time” is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting in that paragraph. Because Ralls is currently injured and, as many have pointed out since his arrival was confirmed, Kane’s own injury record is far from perfect.
Kane’s 2024/25 campaign was disrupted by a series of issues. His career at Huddersfield got off to a stuttering start, with a series of small niggles limiting him to starting just one of the Terriers’ first ten league games. Then, as he got a run in the side, a knee ligament injury in February kept him out for 13 straight games. He’d barely returned before the season was over.
But if that year was bad, this has been even more challenging. Kane was a regular for Huddersfield at the start of the campaign, starting their first eight league games. However, he then picked up a groin injury…and hasn’t technically returned. Yes, he’s been back in full training for the last couple of weeks or so, but he hasn’t actually featured in a matchday squad since mid-September.
We can, of course, view this in two different ways. On one hand, Argyle have signed another player who has a poor injury record. And would it really be a surprise if Kane spent more time on the sidelines than on the field? I don’t think it’d be controversial to say Argyle haven’t managed injuries particularly well this season.
Alternatively, could this be seen as a blessing for Argyle? Ok, nobody likes to see a player injured, but had Kane remained fit this season he’d almost certainly still be starting for Huddersfield. As it is, he’s been absent for a while, a new manager has arrived, and he’s fallen out of favour through no fault of his own. Without his injury history, a player like Kane probably wouldn’t be attainable for Argyle in their current state.
Indeed, it’s not as if he was playing poorly for Huddersfield before his layoff. In what turned out to be his penultimate game for the Terriers this season, he scored a crucial goal in a 3-2 win over Peterborough United. Deflected, yes, but it wasn’t a bad hit…
My ultimate verdict on Kane’s injury record is that yes, of course it’s a risk. But given his experience at this level, his talents, and the fact it’s only a loan deal, it certainly feels like a risk worth taking.