Exeter City: Matt Taylor was bang on with "marquee signing" claim over marmite Rotherham man | OneFootball

Exeter City fans were underwhelmed with the signing of Sam Nombe but he proved to be great - and he still can be for Rotherham United.

When Matt Taylor said he was looking for marquee signings, everyone's ears at Exeter City perked up.

Rewind to the summer of 2021 and Taylor was pretty happy with his Grecians squad, but he felt it was lacking some real quality in a few areas.

City did need strengthening after a disappointing ninth-placed finish in the 2020/21 season followed that disastrous 4-0 thumping by Northampton Town in the play-off final 12 months previous.

The Grecians had been struggling to get out of the fourth tier for a decade, and it didn't feel like that was to change when Taylor's marquee signings were revealed.

The permanent arrivals of Timothée Dieng, fresh off the back of successive relegations with Southend United, attacking midfielder Jevani Brown, who had enjoyed a middling season for Colchester United, and a striker in Sam Nombe who had a grand total of six goals across 58 appearances for MK Dons and Luton Town, hardly set pulses racing.

In fact, it was meltdown territory for a large portion of the Grecians fanbase who were expecting genuine big names (or, at least, people that we'd heard of) as the club had a bit of cash to slash for the first time in a long time after Ollie Watkins' move from Brentford to Aston Villa in the summer of 2020 paid dividends thanks to a nice sell-on clause.

Exeter fans weren't impressed with Taylor's signings

The complaints felt fair and at the time Taylor probably regretted using the term 'marquee'. He, of course, knew a lot more about the EFL than even the most ardent City follower.

He had told Devon Live: "If you can get two to four of them, then you have got a real chance. We have a basis to build on and finally, we are in a position to offer contracts to that type of player.

"Whether they come here remains to be seen, because you know as well as I do how difficult it is to uproot your family and support network to move to the other end of the country, but we should be competitive.

"We can’t sign ten. We are still not Salford City, or some of the other big teams, but we might be able to compete with two, maybe four.

"I would love to sign all four of them straight away, but to get a player of that ilk and a player of that standard, they will wait until the last possible minute because it won’t only be Exeter City and myself that are courting them.

"The ones we will sign early will not be the marquee signings, they will be the ones that will want to sign a contract. They won’t necessarily be the ones that will make a difference."

When they did finally arrive all three were absolutely excellent for City, with Dieng coming in and scoring 12 goals from central midfield as the Grecians finally went up with a second-placed finish.

Nombe was a huge upgrade on Ryan Bowman, who we had been forced to endure up front for two seasons, though it took him a while to get going and to get off the mark.

He would go on to get eight league goals in an injury-hit campaign that year, but his pace and industry forced opponents back and gave the likes of Dieng, Matt Jay and Brown room to operate in behind the striker.

Nombe can still be marquee man for Rotherham

Nombe, now 26, came of age in the 2022/23 season as he picked up 15 goals in League One, ensuring that City comfortably stayed in the third tier.

Brown was the star of the show that season until he was frozen out for an off-the-field incident, bagging 12 in 27 games.

But Nombe was the fulcrum, and he led the line with distinction, which drew the eye of Rotherham United, who were in the Championship at the time, managed by a certain Matt Taylor.

Taylor took Nombe to Yorkshire with him for a reported £1m transfer fee in the summer of 2023, and it felt like a good deal for all involved.

It didn't work out for the pair of former Grecians at Rotherham though and Nombe struggled with the step-up, scoring just three times as the Millers were relegated.

Understandably, he took some stick for that, but he is, at least, still at the club. Taylor was given the axe just two-and-a-half months after signing Nombe.

Nombe hasn't hit the heights of that first season in League One for City while at United, but he has picked up nine goals this season and history shows that he can improve and grow into his surroundings.

Rotherham are going to be in League One again next season, and they'll be hoping that Nombe can fire them back towards the top six and you wouldn't write him off, not from what we saw of him at Exeter City anyway.

Taylor got it spot on when bringing Nombe to St James Park and, while he won't be there to reap the rewards if Nombe catches fire next season, there is proof that the striker is, and can be again, a marquee signing at League One level and maybe beyond.