Bristol Rovers midfield target Matt Butcher has elected to sign for League One rivals Plymouth Argyle on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract at Accrington Stanley.
Butcher was confirmed by Argyle on Monday night on a two-year deal, having had interest throughout the third tier and into League Two with Bradford City also keen on the 25-year-old.
Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers, Fleetwood Town, Peterborough United and Rovers were among the clubs who had shown an interest in Butcher, although the former reportedly pulled out of the race over the weekend with Danny Cowley focusing on other areas of the field.
Bristol Live understands that Butcher was very much under consideration in BS7 but it’s not clear whether a formal offer was made, or if Plymouth’s financial package and sales pitch was more than what other clubs could match or exceed. Butcher is also a former teammate of Argyle No2 Mark Hughes, who started last season as part of the Rovers squad.
“The coaching staff and the players mirror my own ambitions,” Butcher said, with Plymouth’s pre-season getting underway on Tuesday. “Everyone has their sights set on the same thing and that’s getting into the Championship.
“I spoke to him (Mark Hughes) a couple of times and how close he was to the manager - they sang off the same sheet. As soon as I knew he was involved I could trust what everyone was saying and could get on board.”
Midfield has been an area of focus early in the window for Joey Barton, as Butcher would have reinforced a central midfield area a man down following the exit of veteran Glenn Whelan at the end of his contract.
Barton has captain Paul Coutts, albeit with the Scot suspended for the first three games of next season, while Sam Finley and Josh Grant have been used in defensive midfield roles previously.
Butcher, who made 76 appearances for Accrington over two seasons in League One is just one of several options for the Gas in that department, however, and several plans are in place depending on the various permutations in how the market may play out over the next two and a half months.
As confirmed by Barton on Twitter yesterday, Rovers return for pre-season at The Quarters next Monday with the fixtures for the 2022/23 League Two season to be published on Thursday.
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