Exeter City consider taking new risk to unearth Huddersfield Town hype | OneFootball

Pat Jones is said to have signed a new deal at Exeter City and, given his injury record, it's a big gamble. But is it one worth taking?

What to do with a player like Pat Jones?

Exeter City has long been a rehab centre for professional footballers down on their luck and, well, some things never change.

In that sense, St James Park looked to be the perfect place for Jones to come for a couple of years and get his injury-hit career back on track - but it hasn't quite worked out that way.

Huddersfield Town fans warned of serious injury problems under the posts confirming his Terriers departure and Grecians arrival. The hype for him in West Yorkshire was very real, with his goal in August 2022's 2-1 defeat to Norwich City really catching the eye. He would make only five more appearances that season and total a further nine for Town before moving on, such were his injury issues.

Naturally, you brush it off and hope for the best, but those concerns soon came to pass, and he was ruled out for months after picking up another hamstring injury while training with Wales' Under-21s in September before anyone had gotten a glimpse of him in the red and white of Exeter.

We were forced to wait until the thrilling 4-4 draw at home to Crawley Town, a game that saw City go into the break 4-1 down, for Jones make his debut.

His pace and directness made a fanbase used to relentless sideways passing and aimless deep crosses sit up and take notice.

It was only 16 minutes, but it was a glimpse that the risk might be worth taking after all.

Injury problems continue to haunt Jones

Jones was nursed through a number of 15-minute cameos throughout the winter to test whether those pesky hamstrings were finally fixed after surgery in the autumn.

Gradually, he started a few games and, while his output left plenty to be desired, he at least gave the opposition something different to think about in the face of an often toothless and one-dimensional Exeter City attack.

However, after being thrown on with City 2-0 down at home to Stockport County at the start of April, he could only last 10 minutes before limping off, followed down the tunnel by injured club captain Pierce Sweeney, seemingly in tears as he cradled his hamstring once again.

Which leads us to the big question: Is Jones worth persevering with?

New Jones contract would be a gamble

While Exeter is a club for development and player pathways, it's not one that can just throw money away.

The word on X is that Jones has signed a new two-year deal with City and that feels like a big gamble for the Grecians.

However, confusion reigns as Jones has gone through pre-season with City, has featured in some friendlies, but has not received a squad number nor been confirmed as staying on or departing despite the club declaring they had a one-year option when he arrived 11 months ago.

All in all, Jones played 490 of the 4,140 regulation minutes on offer in League One last season.

He played in 17 games, started six and finished none of those, averaging just shy of 29 minutes per appearance.

When fit and available, he scored none and assisted the same amount.

The thing with Jones is that he passes the 'eye test'. Maybe we've just been starved of real pace and directness for so long we've forgotten what it looks like?

If Jones is to remain at Exeter until 2027 as reported, then fitness and output will be the real test of his Huddersfield hype, not just the occasional line-hitting cameo.