Could Aribim Pepple's remarkable hot streak for Plymouth Argyle earn him a CanMNT March window call-up?
Could there be a new face set to be included in the CanMNT’s upcoming squad?
That’s the question many are asking right now, as the play of Plymouth Argyle striker, Aribim Pepple, has opened up a debate on whether or not Jesse Marsch should include the in-form forward in Canada’s squad for their camp in Toronto later this month.
Certainly, Pepple is doing everything in his power to at least throw his name in the mix to earn such a call. After scoring just two goals before Boxing Day in this 2025-2026 season, he’s caught fire since Plymouth’s league matchup against the Wycombe Wanderers on December 29th, scoring an astonishing 12 goals in 16 games across all competitions since then, including 11 goals in 14 games in EFL League One play.
Bim's February catalogue 🎯 pic.twitter.com/rFwBJqaxOY
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) March 13, 2026
Thanks to that, he’s helped power Plymouth up the League One table, as they’ve now picked up 26 points from their last 13 league games (with a record of 8W-2D-3L across that span), putting them within three points of a promotion playoff spot with 10 games remaining in league play.
Naturally, his hot streak has caught the attention of many in Canada, who will have noticed that the 23-year-old is now the most in-form CanMNT-eligible attacker playing at any level since the start of the new year.
Dale ➡️ MacKenzie ➡️ Mitchell ➡️ Ross ➡️ Edwards ➡️ Curtis ➡️ Edwards ➡️ Boateng ➡️ Pepple
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) March 10, 2026
Linking up for our second! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/a5J492qbXd
Because of that, it’s now led to the question of whether Pepple has done enough to represent Canada later this month, but before diving into the possibility of that happening, it’s worth looking at how Pepple got here first, as it’s taken quite the journey for him to get to where he is now. 
After making his professional debut as a 16-year-old in 2019, as he featured in nine games for Cavalry FC in the inaugural Canadian Premier League campaign, his breakout didn’t come until he was 19. There, he scored six goals in seven games to start the 2022 CPL season, which was enough for him to earn a move to EFL Championship side Luton Town.
Having previously trialled with then-English Premier League sides Sheffield United and Leicester City, while also earning a stint with La Liga side Getafe’s academy in 2021, it wasn’t surprising to see Pepple move to Europe, though. Born in England before moving to Calgary as a youngster, it was seen as a shrewd move to take advantage of his UK passport to facilitate a move to a club within the English pyramid, especially given the form he found with Cavalry to begin 2022.
Yet, as many know, just being at a club like Luton, who would then go on to earn a surprising promotion to the Premier League in 2023, is no cakewalk. Immediately, they sent Pepple on loan to cut his teeth in English football, as he joined League Two side Grimsby on a loan, but he failed to score in 15 appearances across all competitions with the English fourth-tier side before his loan was cut short and he returned to Luton.
From there followed a series of more loans, as he joined National League side Bromley at the start of 2023-2024, failing to score in six appearances across all competitions in his stint with the English fifth-tier side before his loan was again cut short, leading him to join Scottish Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle on loan for the rest of 2023-2024, where he only scored two goals in 18 appearances (all comps) for the Scottish second-tier club.
Despite those struggles, though, he continued to keep his head up, and things started to come together for him in 2024-2025. After a loan to National League side Southend United, he found some form back in England’s fifth tier, scoring seven goals in 20 appearances across all competitions, which pushed him to earn a loan to EFL League Two side Chesterfield FC for the second half of the season.
At Chesterfield, he only scored five goals in 23 appearances, but his performances caught the eye of Plymouth, who were set to start life in League One after being relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2024-2025 season. As a result, they signed him for an undisclosed fee from Luton, who had also been relegated to League One alongside Plymouth, having gone from the Championship, to the Premier League, back down to the Championship and then down to League One across the past few years.
Now, with his form as of late, you can only wonder if Luton regrets not keeping Pepple, who never made an appearance for the club, when seeing that they’ve scored just 46 goals in 36 games in their return to the third tier (Plymouth have scored 54 in 36), with their top scorer sitting at nine goals - it certainly won’t help that Luton finds themselves four points behind Plymouth in the League One table as of writing.
Bim reaches double figures in @SkyBetLeagueOne! 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/Mfe6CefPF7
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) March 7, 2026
Granted, they’ll have also wondered where this run of form came from for Pepple, as it’s quite remarkable to see a striker who never scored more than seven goals for any of his previous clubs explode for a run like this, despite being in his first season at the League One level.
And, most remarkably of all, if you’re to dive into the numbers, there are signs to suggest that this run has been pretty sustainable for Pepple, too.
For example, when you look across the season, he’s averaging 0.55 xG per 90 minutes across all competitions - this latest run has bumped his goals per game average to 0.61 goals per 90 minutes, showing that he’s not on a massive xG overperformance bender or anything, at least relative to the chances he’s generated for himself all season long.
Yet, when you look at his goals, that’s not surprising to see. There have been a few remarkable tallies in there, including two bangers from distance, but otherwise, the rest of his goals have all been in and around the six-yard box, which is the sign of a striker who is doing the right things offensively. 
Here's Pepple's shot map from this season. As seen here, most of his shots and goals have come from inside the box, but he's not shy in shooting from distance. Overall, it's a pretty balanced shot map (WyScout)
That’s why, despite averaging a solid 2.94 shots per 90 minutes, Pepple’s xG per shot is over 0.18, which is fantastic. While he’s not shy in having a shot from distance, he’s doing a great job of consistently generating quality chances in and around the goal, doing so thanks to the 3.51 touches in the box he’s taken per 90, and that’s allowed him to go on this goalscoring run.
🎙️ "The man of the moment does it again!" pic.twitter.com/oBpijyZr9Z
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) February 18, 2026
Plus, it’s important to remember that this has all come despite him not being a penalty taker, either, which further shows how good he’s been across this run. As a result, all of his 14 goals are non-penalty markers - he’s now tied for seventh in League One in that category across the entirety of 2025-2026 with his 12 non-penalty league goals, despite only having two league goals at the end of 2025. 
Here's how Pepple's stats compared to his League One peers as of March 10th. As seen here, he's been an elite non-penalty xG generator, and a strong shot generator. Otherwise, his chance generation isn't actually that bad in terms of quality, even though it lacks in quality, although his passing and defending numbers are quite low. His dribbling skills are a nice bonus (WyScout)
What’s fascinating, though, is that Plymouth saw this coming from Pepple. Okay, maybe not to this extent, but when you look back at his League Two numbers for Chesterfield, he was averaging 0.46 xG per 90, but was averaging just 1.94 shots per 90 minutes, showing that his shot quality was fantastic (he was generating over 0.23 xG per shot), but that he just didn’t have great shot volume to match.
He was seeing the ball in and around the box a decent amount, taking 3.17 touches in the box per 90, but he was quite selective with his shot attempts. Plymouth must have seen that, and the fact that he had underperformed his xG by over two goals, and wondered if Pepple could have more to unlock in a different environment - and that bet paid off, as seen by the fact that his xG number has taken a big jump thanks to that increase of shots, despite not taking all that many more touches in the box.
Yet, that’s the thing about strikers - typically, an ability to consistently generate chances is a repeatable skill, and Pepple has shown that it’s a skill he has in his locker. In his breakout 2022 campaign with Cavalry, he generated a whopping 1.21 xG per 90 across his seven appearances, earning him that move to Luton, and then during his loan at Grimsby, he generated 0.44 xG per 90 across 15 appearances, which is not bad considering the limited minutes he had at that club.
Watch out, Bim's about 👁️ pic.twitter.com/EI1aICxlZC
— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) February 14, 2026
His xG figures plummeted across his loans with Bromley and Inverness in the 2023-2024 season, but then rebounded in 2024-2025, first with Southend (where he generated 0.4 xG) and then with Chesterfield.
What that shows, though, is that despite his inconsistent form at each of his clubs, he’s typically generated a good number of xG whenever he’s been on the field, and that’s just continued at Plymouth - the only thing that’s really changed is that he’s shooting a lot more than typical, and is finishing at a much higher rate than he ever has. 
Here's Pepple's heatmap from this season, showing that he's seeing a lot of the ball in and around the penalty area (WyScout)
Considering that he’s just 23, however, that isn’t out of the norm - typically, strikers improve their finishing as they age, especially if they show an ability to generate chances for themselves at a good rate when they’re younger, as Pepple has.
Now, the question will be whether or not his performances will be enough to convince Jesse Marsch to call him up to the CanMNT.
To answer whether or not that is a possibility, however, there are three factors to consider.
Firstly, there is a matter of whether or not his form is enough to get him in ahead of the rest of the competition he faces as a striker looking to crack the CanMNT. In that regard, there is no doubt that he deserves a call, as he’s scoring at a better rate than all of Jonathan David, Tani Oluwaseyi, Cyle Larin, Daniel Jebbison, Charles-Andreas Brym and Jacen Russell-Rowe, while others like Promise David and Theo Bair, who were in similarly great form to Pepple earlier this year, are either injured (David) or coming off an injury (Bair).
Who is Canada's top-scoring striker in 2026 (so far)? 📈
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) March 3, 2026
It's not Jonathan or Promise David, nor is it Tani Oluwaseyi, Cyle Larin, Theo Bair or Daniel Jebbison 👀
It's Aribim Pepple, who's making his CanMNT 🇨🇦 case at Plymouth Argyle 💪 pic.twitter.com/h1pdzpSlgQ
Of course, though, it’s one thing to be in-form, as the level someone plays at is the other big consideration that will be made, leading us to the second factor - is League One a strong enough league to earn a CanMNT call-up from, especially when considering that all of the players mentioned above play at much higher levels.
That’s a much more wide-open question. League One is a good circuit, no doubt - OPTA ranks it right between the Argentine first division and South Korean first division, which is not bad, but as said above, all of his other competition for CanMNT minutes are all at much higher-ranked leagues- all of the names mentioned earlier all play at leagues that OPTA ranks in the top 10 leagues expect Brym and Bair, who play in the 20th and 24th ranked leagues (League One, for context, is ranked 42nd).
While Pepple’s form in League One is enough to put him in the discussion, it’s definitely not enough to put him above established names in the CanMNT striker pool such as Jonathan David, Tani Oluwaseyi, Promise David and Cyle Larin, and he’s even in tough to surpass names such as Daniel Jebbison, Charles-Andreas Brym, Theo Bair and Jacen Russell-Rowe, who might not have the same CanMNT pedigree as the others.
At the same time, it’s worth considering two things: A) While each of Jebbison, Brym, Bair and Russell-Rowe are playing at a higher level, they’ve either not been as prolific for a multitude of reasons, with Jebbison struggling for form, Brym for consistency, Russell-Rowe for minutes and Bair for health, and B) Typically, goalscoring can translate to higher levels as long as it comes from repeatable habits, such as Pepple’s ability to consistently generate xG, which gives a little more credence to his form at a lower level instead of this being a striker on some random statistical bender.
Lastly, the third factor to consider is whether or not Canada has room to give Pepple a chance, which is where things get quite interesting. Had Pepple’s hot run come earlier in the season, he probably wouldn’t have even been in the mix, but now, an opportunity has potentially opened up for him with Promise David’s injury and the struggles of some of the other strikers.
If you were to pick a squad right now, you could make a convincing argument for Pepple to be either the fourth or fifth best name available to Marsch as a striker, depending on how you evaluate Theo Bair’s pre-injury form, behind Jonathan David, Tani Oluwaseyi and Cyle Larin. That might not have been the case a few months ago, and that’s partly why Pepple’s name has entered the CanMNT discussion as of late, as Promise David’s injury has genuinely opened the door for him to potentially earn a call-up.
Considering Pepple’s journey to where he is now, that’s remarkable, and shows why his form has been such a fascinating story to follow. At the end of the day, if he does make the Canadian fold, it’ll be a well-deserved honour for someone who has had to grind to get where he is now, making him a good Canadian Soccer and CPL success story.
GOAL 🐎🐎🐎
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) July 1, 2022
We've got an INSTANT CLASSIC here, folks @CPLCavalryFC turn around a 2-0 deficit to go up 3-2 over @Pacificfccpl just before the hour mark, with ARIBIM PEPPLE scoring his league-leading 6th goal (5th game in a row!)#CanPL | 🔴 https://t.co/7JFAUhgjL6 pic.twitter.com/S9KSImm6h6
Either way, even if he doesn’t earn a call, this hot run shows that it’ll be worth following what’s next for Pepple. Given his age and his numbers, you have to wonder if he’ll earn a move to the Championship next year, even if Plymouth doesn’t get promoted, which would definitely ensure he remains in the mix to earn more CanMNT minutes in the long-term (given that’s a league where Larin and Jebbison currently play).
He’ll need to round out his game to play in the Championship (or another higher-ranked league), as his play in possession could use some work, his chance creation hasn’t been as prolific as hoped, and his defensive play isn’t as strong (which is especially pertinent given the CanMNT’s high-pressing system).
But for a striker with his goalscoring metrics, you can cut him some slack as he rounds out his game, which he’d certainly have to do if he were to make the jump to a higher level and become a full-time CanMNT regular. He’ll know that.
For now, though, his ability to score goals has been what’s caught the attention of many - look for him to continue doing that as he takes advantage of what this latest run could do for him, both in terms of his future at the club and National Team level, no matter what happens for him later this month.
That he’s even in the mix to potentially go to the World Cup, even as a significant longshot to do so, is remarkable and worth highlighting, showing why this run has been so special to see unfold.
All advanced numbers via WyScout
