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LORENT TOLAJ
Born: 23 October 2001
Came from: Port Vale Went to:
First game: 23 August 2025 Last game: 13 September 2025
Appearances: 6 (5/1) Goals: 3
Born in Aigle, in, perhaps aptly, the south-west of Switzerland, Tolaj is of Kosovar descent and a practising Muslim, who fasts during Ramadan. A forward by trade, he started out his career in his homeland, with FC Sion.
He has represented Switzerland internationally at under-17, 18 and 19 levels. In November 2019, he scored eight goals in Switzerland's under-19's astonishing 16-1 win over Gibraltar, setting the record for the most goals scored in an UEFA under-19 European Championship qualifier.
His youthful prolificity did not go unnoticed and he moved to join Brighton & Hove Albion in 2018 winning the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup with the under-23 team and scored regularly through their age-range teams. Whilst he never played a first-team game for the club at senior level, he did play in the EFL Trophy. He was later loaned out to gain experience, however he missed nine months of the 2020-21 season with knee and hamstring injuries.
He was loaned to League One Cambridge United in the 2021-22 season, making five appearances as a substitute, before being recalled as his game-time was becoming limited as other players returned to fitness. .
The following season he was loaned to League Two Salford City for whom he made 17 appearances and scored once. Later that season he was loaned to Scottish Championship side Dundee for whom he made three appearances but was troubled by an Achilles injury which curtailed his time at Dens Park.
In June 2023, he was released by Brighton having not made a senior appearance for the club. In July, he joined National League side Aldershot Town in what proved to be a pivotal season, scoring 25 goals in 51 appearances in the 2023-24 season. He won the National League Player of the Month award for January 2024. At the end of the season, with the Shots just falling short of the play-offs, the Aldershot Town Supporters' Club named him their Player of the Season, while the players voted him as Players’ Player of the Season.
This led to a move to League Two Port Vale in June 2024 for an undisclosed fee and he became their top scorer as the club was promoted out of League Two at the end of the 2024-25 season. He was also named as League Two Player of the Month for April, and was credited with a pivotal role in helping the Valiants secure automatic promotion to League One. In total, including the start of the 2025-26 season, he played 46 times for Vale scoring 16 times.
With the mass exodus at Home Park following relegation from the Championship the season before and the poor start to the 2025-26 season back in League One, Argyle lacked someone to wear the number 9 jersey since Ryan Hardie left to join Wrexham in June 2025. In late August 2025 therefore Argyle activated a "substantial release clause" in Tolaj's Vale contract, reported to be £1.2 million.
Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley later said that he had brought "the right number nine into the building" following his "monumental rise up the footballing pyramid". Tolaj had become the club's thirteenth summer signing on a four-year contract joining at the end of a week which also saw the arrivals of defenders Alex Mitchell and Mathias Ross.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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