MACLEAN is a cultured centre-forward with fantastic ability on the ball and an excellent goal-scoring record in his career to date.

Stevie Mac became Argyle's record signing when he joined the club for £500,000 from Cardiff City in January 2008.

MacLean began his professional career as a junior at Glasgow Rangers and made four substitute appearances for the Ibrox giants before moving South of the border to join Scunthorpe United on a season-long loan.

Born in Edinburgh, the 25 year-old lifelong Hibernian fan banged in 23 goals in just 37 starts for the Iron and returned to Rangers full of hope for the future.

Unfortunately, manager Alex McLeish decided he was not ready for first-team football with the Scottish giants and MacLean jumped at the chance to join Chris Turner at Sheffield Wednesday for a reported fee of £125,000.

A poor start to that campaign cost Turner his job and current Argyle boss Paul Sturrock took over the Hillsborough reins. "Macca" as he affectionately became known to Wednesday fans scored 20 goals in his first season at Hillsborough including a penalty in their League One Play-Off Final victory over Hartlepool United.

Luggy had MacLean down as a key figure for the new Championship campaign of 2005-06 but a broken leg sustained on the eve of the season limited him to just six appearances, although the two goals he scored were against bitter rivals Sheffield United and eventual Champions Reading.

Determined to make up for lost time, he scored 13 goals in just 22 Championship starts in the following season and finished the campaign as Wednesday's joint top goalscorer along with Deon Burton.

As a firm favourite with the Owls fans, there was huge surprise when the club allowed his contract to expire, and Cardiff City were the first club to pounce.

Life at Ninian Park was seemingly destined to be tough for MacLean. His astonishing record of never having missed a penalty ended on his debut for the Bluebirds and the double-signing of Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler saw him move down the Cardiff pecking order.