This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Middlesbrough playmaker Finn Azaz has been identified as the ideal ex-Plymouth Argyle player to bring back into Wayne Rooney’s current Championship squad.

Azaz currently plies his trade at the Riverside Stadium, but was poached by Boro off the back of his impressive loan spells at Argyle in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

The attacking midfielder moved to Plymouth on loan from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022, and was a key part of the Pilgrims’ League One title winning campaign under Steven Schumacher in his first season at Home Park, so signed a contract extension with Villa and re-joined Argyle ahead of their return to the second-tier.

He was just as impressive in the Championship for the Greens, but only lasted a half-season back in Devon as he was recalled back to Villa in January to be sold to Boro for around £2.5 million in a real blow to Plymouth’s season.

Azaz has continued to shine in the second-tier under Michael Carrick on Teesside, and looks set to play an important role in their promotion push this season, with a decent career at the top level surely set to follow in the years to come.

Finn Azaz named in Plymouth Argyle player return debate

Azaz had an instant impact at Home Park, with three goals and an assist in his first five league games, which came as no surprise given his impressive loan exploits at Newport County in the previous season.

He suffered an ankle injury midway through the League One campaign, which slowed down the second-half of his season, but he still ended with eight goals and 10 assists in 39 games in all competitions and did more than enough to earn another loan spell in the Championship for 2023/24.

Azaz was again Argyle’s key man, this time in the second-tier, and he notched seven goals and five assists in 26 appearances for the first six months of the season, which alerted the attention of other clubs to the possibility of signing him permanently, with his Aston Villa contract set to expire at the end of the campaign.

Boro forked out £2.5m for his services after he was recalled back to Villa Park, and FLW’s resident Greens fan pundit, Chris, picked out Azaz as the player that he would resign for Argyle, after we asked him for one former player that he would bring back to the current squad if given the opportunity.