Lowe had no doubt Jephcott would remain
RYAN Lowe has revealed that Plymouth Argyle did not receive any bids for their 16-goal top scorer Luke Jephcott during the January transfer window.
He confirmed there had been ‘a few inquiries’ about the 21-year-old striker but that they went no further than.
Argyle were under no financial pressure to consider selling Jephcott and Lowe made it clear that clubs would be wasting their time in making offers.
Lowe and Jephcott were also in agreement that the Pilgrims’ academy graduate would not move on in January either.
Now, with the transfer window shut, Lowe wants to see further improvement from League One’s leading marksman.
There was some speculation at the start of January about Jephcott possibly leaving Argyle but it did not develop beyond that due to Lowe’s firm stance on the situation.
Lowe said: “I think we stamped that out early doors didn’t we? That’s what you do.
“That happened to me years ago when I was trying to get a move and the manager shut me down. It’s learning from experience isn’t it?
“Yeah, there was probably a few inquiries but I don’t think Luke wanted to know about it. I certainly didn’t.
“We were in agreement that he definitely wasn’t going anywhere in January. That was it as far as I was concerned.”
He added: “We are not in a position where we need to sell so we were fine but, I keep saying it, Luke has still got a long way to go.
“Yeah, he might be the leading goalscorer (in League One) but he has still got more to offer and more to do.
“In the near future if something comes along and everyone is happy with it then so be it, but at this moment in time, he has got to keep scoring goals.”
The transfer window saw Lowe add Liverpool’s Adam Lewis and Crystal Palace defender Sam Woods to his squad on loan deals.
Striker Niall Ennis was signed on a twoand-a-half year contract from Wolves while Ryan Hardie turned his season-long loan from Blackpool into a permanent deal.
With Hardie secured until the summer of 2023, Argyle had one spare loan space and they filled it by signing Woods.
Lowe said: “What I don’t want to do - and I don’t think I will ever do it - is rush around last minute.com and make panic buys.
“I won’t name any clubs, but I feel there are a few clubs out there who have panic buyed or panic loaned. I never want to get into that. We have got a good recruitment policy. We are never going to just jump in at the deep end.
“We had been given Sam to us for a while but it was a loan and we didn’t have any loan space, and then we did Ryan (Hardie), which we were pleased with.
“I agreed the deal with Crystal Palace on Saturday night and then spoke to Sam, who was looking forward to it.”
Defender Niall Canavan and striker Dom Telford both left Argyle on permanent deals in January, to Bradford City and Newport County respectively.
Then, on deadline day, striker Frank Nouble rejoined his former club, Colchester United, on loan until the end of the season.
That was then followed by defender Scott Wootton leaving for Wigan Athletic, also on loan for the rest of the campaign.
Lowe said: “You can’t guarantee anyone a game of football. In Scotty’s defence I did say he could move on but Niall went first.
“Then I couldn’t leave ourselves short so Scotty had to hang on a little bit. We felt we couldn’t stand in his way neither.”