Pilgrims keen to look after Cooper

PLYMOUTH Argyle would have expected bids for their highly-rated goalkeeper Mike Cooper this summer had he stayed fit and they gone to win promotion to the Championship, manager Steven Schumacher has admitted.

However, a serious knee injury has stalled Cooper’s career for now, although the 23-year-old is already on his rehabilitation programme only three weeks after his operation.

The repair to the torn anterior cruciate ligament was carried out by top surgeon Andy Williams in London and the early indications are that it was very successful.

Cooper was set to go into the last year of his contract this summer but, after his injury setback, Schumacher moved to extend that by a further 12 months until June 2025.

The news was announced on Wednesday and not only does it give Cooper extra security and peace of mind it protects Argyle’s interest in their most valuable playing asset.

From a personal and business perspective it made good sense to do it, and Schumacher revealed he had wanted to extend Cooper’s contract for some time.

Cooper had started 121 successive League One games for Argyle, and earned a deserved reputation as one of the top young ‘keepers in the country, until he suffered his knee injury during the 1-0 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday on February 4.

Inevitably, there has been plenty of talk in the past of him moving on but Schumacher had made it clear that Cooper would not come cheap and the recent January transfer window came and went without any offers for him.

Schumacher said: “Nobody bid, no, but he’s a good goalkeeper who is highly rated and if he had played probably every game and got us promoted we would have expected bids.

“We would have had to listen to them bids because he would have gone into the last year of his contract. Now, he’s injured he won’t probably be available, or he might be available just for the start of the (2023/24) season.

“He won’t be going into the last year of his contract and hopefully he’s playing in the Championship for us.”

Schumacher added: “Michael is one of the players I had conversations with as soon as I got the manager’s job. It was about ‘You are our best player Mike, you should be getting paid like the best player.’

“He and his representatives were happy with carrying on the way they were and I understood that. I got that from their point of view.

“I said ‘Whenever you want to talk, we will talk’ and we did a couple of weeks ago. I got in him as soon as he got his head around his injury and had been to see the surgeon.

“I said ‘Right, come on, this contract, let’s get it sorted, let’s look after you’ and he was pleased with it I think.”

The Pilgrims head to Barnsley this afternoon with doubts over whether the match will be on after heavy snowfall in South Yorkshire.

The Oakwell playing surface was covered yesterday, while the surrounding areas were also treacherous. Temperatures are expected to drop to around -5 overnight, which leaves concerns over how dangerous conditions will be come 3pm this afternoon.

> Mike Cooper