Once again, I find myself apologising for the delay in getting this piece to your screens. For this one, read: a slight illness, trips to watch cricket, and some filming for talkSPORT. Don’t let it be said that I don’t prioritise your time…honest.
Given all the goings on at Plymouth Argyle, I’d forgive you for completely forgetting this transfer actually happened. Around a fortnight ago now, the Pilgrims completed a move for Owen Oseni, signing the Irishman from St Mirren for a reported fee of £60,000. The move came just a matter of months after Oseni arrived at St Mirren in the first place, joining them on that occasion from Gateshead for £120,000.
Signing a striker who failed to start, or score, for a Scottish club felt… let’s say “surprising,” to put it mildly. It’s led to a few writing off Oseni before he even takes to the pitch for Argyle, and I appreciate that this isn’t necessarily the most exciting signing in the world. Boring signings on paper do not necessarily equate to bad signings in practice, however, so let’s delve into his numbers and see if we can identify why Argyle have made their move.
Gateshead goalscoring
In league action last season, Oseni played a total of 1,802 minutes. 1,699 of them came at Gateshead, whilst just 103 were north of the border at St Mirren. As such, we can safely assume that Argyle have made their move based on the 22-year-old’s Gateshead spell; God help us if the Home Park hierarchy have seen someone struggle to get a game for St Mirren and decided that’s exactly what we need.
We’ll use the entire 1,802 minutes when analysing his stats across this piece. Naturally, however, the makeup of the stats means they’ll be heavily weighted in favour of his Gateshead days. And that’s fine if we’re looking for some optimism, because many of his numbers at Gateshead were objectively excellent.
As he’s a striker, the natural first place to pass judgement is his goalscoring. Just cast the level of football to the back of your mind for a moment – I promise we’ll touch upon that again later – and consider that Oseni’s 12 league goals is more than any Argyle player managed last season. And even with his St Mirren spell included, his average of 0.60 goals per 90 minutes would still top the charts.
| Player | Goals per 90 |
| Owen Oseni* | 0.60 |
| Andre Gray | 0.49 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 0.40 |
| Muhamed Tijani | 0.40 |
| Ryan Hardie | 0.40 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 0.39 |
Impressively, Oseni has shown a proficiency for scoring different types of goals. Most of them came with his strongest left foot, but three of the 12 were scored with his head. And whilst he predominantly scored from a variety of open play situations, he also demonstrated a threat from set pieces. That included a last-minute winner from a corner against Solihull Moors, with Oseni bullying his man before and after finding the net.
Oseni has also presented encouraging numbers away from simply scoring goals. He’s another player Argyle have signed this summer to have completed a significant number of dribbles, suggesting he can threaten defences in more ways than one. Per 90, Ibrahim Cissoko was the only player to complete dribbles more frequently last season.
| Player | Dribbles completed per 90 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 3.08 |
| Owen Oseni* | 1.55 |
| Freddie Issaka | 1.37 |
| Morgan Whittaker | 1.29 |
| Darko Gyabi | 1.06 |
| Rami Al Hajj | 1.04 |
My early impression is that Argyle supporters in general would be far keener on Oseni’s arrival had he moved directly from Gateshead. Signing a player who was, at the time at least, Argyle’s only striker after he barely got a look in from St Mirren didn’t set pulses racing. “Taking a gamble on a player from the National League,” however, brings a certain amount of exoticism from the unknown. And make no mistake, Oseni’s numbers on the ball at Gateshead are strong however you cut them.
A livewire at his best
Having already covered his goalscoring and dribbling, I think we’ve revealed evidence that Oseni can be a thrilling player to watch. Level permitting, of course. I also believe there is enough in his numbers to infer details about his style of play, and I’d make a few suggestions that he has yet more strings to his bow that can cause defenders headaches.
Consider, for example, that all 12 of Oseni’s goals this season came from inside the penalty area. I see that as a positive. Sure, I’d love to witness some long-range piledrivers as much as the next guy, but Oseni’s figures suggest a handy knack for being in the right place at the right time. It’s a wonderful trait for a striker to have; Luke Jephcott scored plenty of goals when he last played for Argyle in League One and, whilst I hope his career takes a very different trajectory, I suspect Oseni will fancy himself to do the same.
As well as allowing him to score classic poacher’s goals, Oseni’s movement can be tricky to deal with in the build-up. He’s a player who loves to play on the shoulder of the last defender, and can stretch the defensive line if games are a little tight for Tom Cleverley’s liking. In effect, Oseni combines his Jephcott-esque poaching ability with a Ryan Hardie-esque ability to utilise effective attacking movement.
We can establish this by looking at his number of offsides. Given Hardie posted a significant number of offsides when Argyle were last in League One (I believe it may have been a league high, though cannot confirm for sure), it acts as a decent indicator of a player’s running style. Per 90, Andre Gray was the only Argyle player caught offside more regularly than Oseni last term. And even that is heavily caveated by sample size. Gray’s raw number of offsides was eight, whilst Oseni’s was 24.
| Player | Offsides per 90 |
| Andre Gray | 1.30 |
| Owen Oseni* | 1.20 |
| Muhamed Tijani | 0.80 |
| Ryan Hardie | 0.79 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 0.58 |
| Callum Wright | 0.56 |
Once he gets himself into those positions behind the defence, and has possession, Oseni can be a solid centre forward. His willingness to shoot is a positive – no Argyle player had more shots per 90 last season than Oseni’s 2.79 – and those shots tend to be effective. Both his shot accuracy (43%) and shot conversion (21%) were above Argyle’s average from last term.
Overall, Oseni scored 12 goals last year from an xG of 9.8. That feels positive for several reasons. First of all, his xG per 90 of 0.49 is again better than any Argyle player achieved. Additionally, the performance rate is both good and manageable. Sure, he’s overperformed against his xG, but not to the extent that you’d expect a significant drop-off in future.
It’s the latest in what appear to be several good signs for the Irishman.
Anonymity fears
I feel I’ve spent much of this piece bigging up Oseni as a signing. If you’re here simply for optimism, I salute you, and you’re more than welcome to sign off before reading the remainder. Because it’s time to present the alternative view, and outline why I have more than a few reservations about Argyle’s attacking arrival.
Whilst I’ve outlined how Oseni can trouble defences at his best – his goalscoring, shooting, dribbling and movement all stand out in their own ways – I fear he lets games pass him by on far too many occasions. His relative anonymity when presented with minutes was probably a significant factor in St Mirren opting not to start him during his spell in Scotland.
Simply looking at touches can demonstrate the problem. Last season, Oseni averaged 27.02 touches per 90. That would have ranked him third-last at Argyle, with only Gray (23.07) and Hardie (20.68) posting a lower figure. Sure, part of Oseni’s job will be replacing Gray and Hardie, but it’s important to remember that they were representing a relegated Argyle team, whilst Oseni was playing for a promotion-chasing Gateshead side for much of the campaign. He could, and should have gotten more involved.
I also don’t see Oseni as a player who has proved to be effective at pressing from the front. It wouldn’t look out of place if a player made one clearance and six interceptions in a single game, but that’s all Oseni managed for the entire season. Predictably, his average of 0.35 defensive actions per 90 would have ranked dead last at Argyle last season. He didn’t complete a single tackle, and was dribbled past on two occasions.
I have no doubt Oseni at least tries. He certainly doesn’t strike me as the sort of player to shy away from a fight, and he readily gets involved in duels. However, his success rates are alarming, and will need to improve significantly if he’s simply going to earn a sustained run in Argyle’s side.
Across last season, Oseni won 68 ground duels at a success rate of 29%, which is highly unsatisfactory. And it’s not as if he made up for that by being successful in the air. Across the entirety of the campaign, Oseni won just 17 aerial duels at a paltry success rate of 22%. Perhaps most worryingly, most of those duels were in a Gateshead shirt against National League defenders. Of course, it’s harder to win duels against better players, and I struggle to see how Oseni could possibly compete in League One on current form.
Oseni arrives at Home Park as perhaps one of the rawest talents we’ve seen in a while. When he’s firing on all cylinders, he can clearly be a threat. And if his talents are honed correctly, I suspect he’ll also be more effective out of possession. It’s a big challenge for Cleverley and his coaching staff though, and hopefully it won’t prove a bridge too far.
St Mirren, and transfer context
Much of this piece has been spent covering Oseni’s spell at Gateshead. Yes, all the stats we’ve explored thus far technically include his spell at St Mirren in the second half of last season. However, as I mentioned earlier, the weighting of those numbers mean the Gateshead days clearly hold prominence.
It is worth exploring what happened at St Mirren, and taking a moment to consider what may have gone wrong. Because, from the outside looking in, a lot seems to feel off about Oseni’s spell at the club. The vibe amongst the fanbase was that Oseni was a long-term investment. He wasn’t necessarily expected to deliver straight away but, given time, he could prove to be a valuable asset. That they’ve decided to cash in for a loss months later is curious.
I fully accept that we shouldn’t judge Oseni based on 103 minutes played in St Mirren. I do, however, believe it’s appropriate to question exactly why he played so few minutes. I accept the long-term project point, but was his anonymity off the bench just too much of a burden? Did he fail to deliver in training as hoped? Or was he simply unlucky? I remember having similar discussions when John Sheridan only gave Tyler Harvey fleeting minutes as a substitute over a decade ago.
The St Mirren spell is a blot on Oseni’s record, and it’s worth us considering why it didn’t work out to avoid making similar mistakes during his time in Plymouth. However, my concerns on this particular transfer (and certainly not Argyle’s window overall) are allayed when I consider the wider context of the move.
Oseni joins Argyle as, at best, the club’s third-choice striker. Bim Pepple, who I hope to discuss more in the coming days, has already joined since, and there are always rumours popping up about future additions. Additionally, Oseni’s transfer fee of £60,000 is comparative peanuts to Argyle, and would’ve been even before they turned a significant profit in recent transfer windows. It’ll prove an amazing deal if Oseni comes good on his potential, but no great loss if he doesn’t.
I hope that Oseni will surprise a few, and turn out to be a good arrival. He has the raw ability, and I keep my fingers crossed that Cleverley and crew can work their magic. However, Argyle’s success in transforming their strikeforce this summer will rest on other deals, not this one.