Exeter City: Northampton Town evidence may soothe any Birmingham City, Luke Harris woes – View | OneFootball

Kamari Doyle's replaced Luke Harris on loan at Exeter and could he even be an upgrade on the Fulham and Birmingham man?

It’s early days, but Gary Caldwell may have done it again in the loan market.

The Exeter City boss was desperate to bring Luke Harris back to St James Park from Fulham after some impressive performances in the second half of last season, and his old No.20 shirt even went unassigned for quite a while which gave supporters hope of a dream return.

There’s still a bitter taste in the mouth over last season’s move as City were forced to wait until January after missing out on him in the 2023 summer window.

It took a while, but once up to speed, Harris was a class act for the Grecians, scoring three goals and grabbing an assist in his final five appearances for the club.

The loan left City fans wanting more and wondering what could have been as they somehow mustered a 13th-placed finish despite a run of 100 days without a win and a desperate lack of firepower in the first half of the season.

Exeter fans will get to see Harris in City action in EX4 soon enough, though this time around it will be as a Birmingham City player on September 7th – having joined the Blues this summer.

Kamari Doyle has shown glimpses of what he can bring to Exeter City

What we did get in the 2-1 defeat to Northampton at the weekend was a first glimpse at City’s Harris replacement, the exciting Kamari Doyle.

The Bristol-born attacker has headed west along the south coast from Brighton on a season-long loan to take up Harris’ old No.20 shirt and play in his left-sided No.10 role, cutting in from the flank, and he’s raring to get stuck in.

He said: "I am really excited to be here and to be given the opportunity to play first team football at a great club in a strong league.

"There are a few people at the club I have known before and the manager seems really keen to have me here, so it's a really attractive club to come and join.

“First team experience helped me a lot at Southampton, and at Brighton I think we have a similar playing style to Exeter so that's good."

He showed glimpses of his quality and had a couple of snapshots as City pushed to get back into the game after squandering a 1-0 lead following a strong first-half performance with crucial individual errors from Jack McMillan and Joe Whitworth.

On Doyle’s arrival, Caldwell outlined what he felt the Brighton midfielder could bring, and it sounds remarkably similar to Harris.

“Kami is an intelligent young player and is technically very strong,” Caldwell said. “We believe he can bring a lot of value to the team and strengthen our midfield and attacking area.”

Doyle was lively in his 20-minute cameo and racked up 17 touches and two shots, with one forcing a smart save from the keeper and one being blocked by the Cobblers' defence.

The early signs are good and, while City fans would definitely have preferred to get Harris back again, having Doyle through the door for a full season could prove to be an even better bit of business than the Wales youth international’s five-month spell in 2023/24.

Getting over much-loved loan signings is never easy and Harris' first goal for Birmingham, which came last weekend, may have stung a little but the excitement cameo against Northampton should help to soothe that pain.