Exeter City: Gary Caldwell should abandon part of any Brentford FC transfer plans he may have hatched | OneFootball

Exeter City have borrowed a lot of players from Brentford recently but Gary Caldwell should move on from Tony Yogane and Ryan Trevitt next season.

It's fair to say the summer has suddenly sprung to life.

Exeter City fans were enjoying a tranquil break from the hustle and bustle of League One action before being rudely jolted awake with the news of Caleb Watts' defection to join Plymouth Argyle.

Whether Watts had decided to stay or not it was always going to be a busy couple of months behind the scenes at St James Park with Gary Caldwell admitting that he'd like to add around 11 players to the 14 he has contracted for next season to give him a battery of 25 first teamers.

One constant feature of Caldwell's tenure in Devon's capital is his eagerness to use the loan market and, increasingly, borrowing Brentford's young players.

Last season we saw the excellent Tristan Crama star in the heart of City's defence before being recalled and sold to Millwall in January.

Ryan Trevitt also returned for a second loan spell that, like his loan in the 2023/24 season, was curtailed by injury.

Tony Yogane completed a hat-trick of borrowed Bees with his unique style that's probably more suited to the five-a-side cage than London Road or The Lamex.

Exeter have loaned lots of Brentford players

Caldwell has already revealed that he's spent time up at Brentford's training ground since the season finished and, given the close links between the clubs of late, you'd expect there may be some more players swapping West London for the South West next season.

If the former Scotland defender can unearth another gem like Crama then absolutely go for it.

However, if it's Trevitt and Yogane on offer then Caldwell needs to say, 'no thanks' and look elsewhere.

Trevitt is a very talented player but is there any point in him returning for a third spell at Exeter?

He scored one goal and registered zero assists in 12 appearances before picking up an injury late on in the away win at Barnsley which, coincidentally, was also the scene of his only strike.

While Caldwell is head over heels with Trevitt the fact is he simply wasn't as good second time around and the numbers back it up as he scored five in 23 games last season.

While the eyes and the stats told us Trevitt wasn't as effective this season, Caldwell was still gushing with praise in his end of season review.

He told the club's media team: "I thought he took a couple of games to get going and then he [Trevitt] was incredible for us again in that midfield in a period where we had to win some big games and have important moments."

Yogane not ready for League One

Incredible is certainly pushing it, but his praise for Yogane's talents are a little baffling as he spent more time trying to go round players and slipping than he did helping City score some goals, firing a blank but setting up two in 18 games.

"To see the young boy that came and how much he [Yogane] has matured and grown is great, but as a player I think he has so much to offer," Caldwell continued.

"He has amazing one-v-one skills, he knows there's areas of his game he has to improve but I think he's a player with a big future as well."

Indeed he may have a big future in the game but, given how raw and ineffective he still is, hopefully that's not at St James Park next season.

Caldwell has hinted that he might be interested in bring Yogane back but surely we can do better than the Brentford winger.

It feels like next season is going to be a really struggle for City and there's going to be no room to carry a wide player who doesn't fully understand how to best apply his skill yet.