Plymouth accept Morgan Whittaker bid days after he refused to play

Whittaker's absence from the starting XI of the 5-0 home defeat to Burnley raised further speculation over his future at the Pilgrims.

talkSPORT understands that Burnley and Hull City have seen bids rejected for the winger, with Plymouth wanting a club record fee for the star.

Now they have accepted a £6million offer from Middlesbrough, plus add-ons.

Whittaker has scored 33 goals in 103 appearances for Plymouth since his £1million plus add-ons move from Swansea City in 2023, which made him their record signing.

However, head coach Muslic has revealed that the winger was in his plans to play against Burnley but Whittaker decided not to play.

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"We need players who really want to play for Argyle so we can always come to them when we need players, who are ready to give everything," he said after the defeat.

"I know he's a target and linked with transfers," he added, before saying: "He was available today, he was in the selection and he wasn't there.

"So, it's what I said again, we need to change this mentality, we need to change the locker room, we need to get characters inside with the desire to face this challenge and to give it all, that's our only way and our only chance."

Muslic then elaborated: "He was in the selection, and that's everything I have to say.

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"Morgan is an Argyle player under contract here as long as nobody has paid the money we as an organisation demand, to pay his value.

"He's an Argyle player and he has responsibilities and obligations to Argyle and like I said, that's one of the reasons why Argyle is struggling for the last months.

"Morgan didn't show up, he was in the selection," Muslic insisted, before adding: "We had a game today, he was in the selection, he wasn't there, and that's everything I have to say on Morgan."

However, sources close to Whittaker insist his absence was due to a dead leg.

At Home Park, a Whittaker-less Plymouth suffered a heavy defeat in their latest Championship outing and were five goals down by half-time.

Promotion-chasing Burnley scored their first goal of the evening on 11 minutes through Zian Flemming.

He netted his second shortly after the half-hour mark before Josh Laurent netted two goals for himself on the approach to half-time.

Josh Cullen scored the final goal of the match with a strike in first-half stoppage-time.

Plymouth have suffered a 15th Championship defeat of the season and remain bottom of the table on 21 points and six behind safety.

Portsmouth have added more pressure on the Pilgrims with a 3-1 win over Stoke City to take them up to 18th with a game in hand.

Plymouth's last Championship win came on November 5 when they beat Pompey 2-1.

They've faced a 14-game winless run in the league since then, with their FA Cup win over Brentford their only recent triumph.

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During that time Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney as head coach.

Muslic's side return to action on Saturday with a tough trip to Sunderland, who sit fourth in the table and were heavily linked with the 42-year-old manager last summer.