Plymouth Argyle struck gold after capitalising on Coventry City decision – There may be regrets though

Plymouth Argyle struck gold after capitalising on Coventry City decision – There may be regrets though

Ruben Lameiras was expected to have a lot of promise after graduating from Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, and he

had started to demonstrate it with Plymouth Argyle.

Even though he did display some flashes of brilliance during their run to win the 2017 EFL Trophy, he was unable to

stop the Sky Blues from being demoted from League One at the end of that season. He had a couple of mediocre

seasons in Coventry.

In the summer of 2017, the Pilgrims pounced on Coventry’s decision to release Lameiras at the end of his contract,

and he moved down to Home Park on a free transfer.

Ruben Lameiras thrived at Plymouth Argyle

Under Derek Adams’ tutelage, Lameiras wowed Home Park for a few years in Devon with his exceptional balance

and technical skill.

Similar to his circumstances at Coventry, Lameiras started the season on the periphery but improved as Plymouth

finished just outside of the top six and the League One play-off spots.

Lameiras then emerged as the star of the 2018–19 season at Plymouth, putting up a valiant fight in a mediocre team

that was ultimately demoted on goal differential as a result of a collapse in the final stretch, dropping from 12th place

with just over a month remaining to 21st place, even though they had won on the last day.

Lameiras, who was nominated for Plymouth’s Player of the Season, played as a winger for Adams but could also play

inside. In 41 League One appearances, Lameiras recorded 11 goals and six assists.

A sense of what could have been for Ruben Lameiras

Lameiras, who is only 24 years old, seems to have established himself as someone who is not only competent enough

for League One but also has the ability to advance.

The attacker, who was born in Lisbon, returned home to play for Famalicao in the Portuguese first division after

turning down a new contract at Plymouth.

After a steady first season, Lameiras transformed himself into a quality operator in the Primeira Liga during the

first-half of the 2020/21 campaign, earning himself a move to arguably the biggest club in Portugal outside of ‘Os

Tres Grandes’, Porto, Benfica and Sporting, with a move to Vitoria Guimaraes after scoring four goals from 11 games.

He once again made a name for himself as a fairly reliable player at Vitoria for a few years, but he never really took

off to get a transfer back down south to Lisbon, where he was born, and either Sporting or Benfica. He may not have

lived up to the talent that was so evident during his time at Plymouth in the early years of his Portuguese football

career, as he only managed six goals from 77 games over two and a half years.

Rather, Lameiras joined Al Sailiya in the Qatari second tier following stints with both Chaves and Casa Pia. However,

he has contributed to their promotion to the Qatari Stars League by displaying some talent there.

However, Lameiras has had a lacklustre couple of years compared to a player playing in European football in 2021

and undoubtedly having the EFL at his feet in 2019.

Even though they were demoted to the fourth division, the two years he gave Argyle were fantastic; it’s only a matter

of “what could have been.”

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