'MEANT TO BE'

ARGYLE WAITING ON WORK PERMIT FOR NEW STRIKER MUSTAPHA BUNDU

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

STEVEN Schumacher hopes Plymouth Argyle's 10th and final signing of the summer transfer window will soon be able to join up with his new team-mates.

Sierra Leone international striker Mustapha Bundu completed his move from Belgian club Anderlecht for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract a few hours before the transfer deadline last Friday.

Argyle are now working on getting a work permit for Bundu authorised, with the assistance of The Football Association, so he can begin his time at Home Park.

Schumacher had lined up Middlesbrough's 20-year-old striker Josh Coburn for a season-long loan until their boss, Michael Carrick, had a late change of plan last week and decided to keep him at the Riverside Stadium.

That meant the Pilgrims had to look elsewhere for another forward and Bundu featured prominently in their data analysis of alternative targets.

He had signed for Anderlecht on a four-year contract from Danish side Aarhus in 2020 but played only 11 first team matches for the Brussels-based club.

That led to him having loan spells with FC Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, as well as FC Andorra in Spain's second division.

On how the signing of Bundu came about, Schumacher said: "We have an algorithm, we are looking for players in all of the leagues who fit our attributes.