Plymouth Argyle are closing in on the signing of 6ft 5in Ukraine international defender Maksym Talovierov, Plymouth Live understands.

It was first reported by Sky Sports News this morning that the Pilgrims have agreed a fee of around £1.7 million with Austrian Bundesliga club LASK Linz for the 24-year-old, who is set for a medical on Tuesday and expected to sign a contract until the summer of 2028.

Talovierov made one brief appearance as a substitute for Ukraine at the Euro 2024 finals in Germany last summer, in a 2-1 win against Slovakia in Dussledorf. He went on to play three times for his country in the UEFA Nations League earlier this season, starting games at home to Georgia and the Czech Republic and coming off the bench away to Albania.

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A report by Lyall Thomas on the Sky Sports News Transfer Centre this morning said: "LASK centre-back Maksym Taloverov is set to sign for Plymouth. The clubs have a £1.7m (€2m) agreement. The Ukraine international will sign a three-and-a-half-year deal pending the completion of a medical tomorrow."

Talovierov joined LASK Linz on a permanent deal from Czech club Slavia Prague in February 2024 after a couple of loan spells with them. He has made four starts and eight substitute appearances in the Austrian Bundesliga this season.

Argyle are in desperate need of more defensive options. Brendan Galloway has been ruled out for the season by injury while Kornel Szucs has also been sidelined recently. On top of that, the Pilgrims sold Lewis Gibson to Championship rivals Preston North End for around £1.5m earlier this month.

They did agree a fee of around £1.1m for defender Mike Eerdhuijzen with Sparta Rotterdam last week, but according to a report by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf the 24-year-old did not want to make the move due to Argyle being at the bottom of the Championship.

Argyle head coach Miron Muslic was asked for an update on new signings after the 2-2 draw away to Sunderland on Saturday and said: "Work in progress. We are trying hard to convince players and we want the right characters. That's the most important.

"We need players with the willingness to pick up this challenge because this challenge will remain until the very last day, I think. We just need the right characters so we are looking exactly for that. These are the reinforcements we need. We lost just one day ago our best offensive player so it's clear, for example, we are going to try to replace Morgan (Whittaker) for sure.

"Brendan Galloway is out for the season, Kornel is not playable. I had to sub off today Pleggy (Julio Pleguezuelo) with a potential knee injury. So we finished the game with Victor, Bali (Mumba) and Puszka (Tymoteusz Puchacz). I think we also need something there."

Muslic added: "We want the right players and it takes a little bit of time but I'm very confident we can support the team." The winter transfer window closes at 11pm next Monday (February 3).

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