Exeter City: Gary Caldwell must repeat Brentford trick with Rangers done deal | OneFootball

Johnly Yfeko has joined Exeter City permanently from Rangers and next season he needs to put in regular quality performances like Tristan Crama did.

It wasn't the best kept secret that Johnly Yfeko had signed for Exeter City.

But it was a pleasant surprise to see it officially confirmed in the club's 2024/25 retained list.

The towering defender was on a season-long loan at the League One side from Rangers with the Grecians having an option to buy him as part of the deal.

And City fans online were asking for that clause to be triggered just 45 minutes into his debut, such was the raw talent on display way back in August.

He quickly formed a superb understanding at the back as part of a three with captain Pierce Sweeney and fellow loanee Tristan Crama.

However, Yfeko picked up a hamstring injury towards the end of October which coincided with a dip in form for City and a sharp drop off in clean sheets.

City fans were forced to wait until New Year's Day 2025 to see Yfeko tentatively return from injury only to hear that he had done a similar injury in the other leg just two weeks later.

The pre-planned half-time substitution in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Oxford would be the last minutes the 21-year-old defender would play this season and questions were rightly raised over whether signing him was as good an idea as first thought.

Yfeko deal a gamble given injuries

Clearly he's already good enough to feature in a League One outfit, but should the Grecians, with their limited budget, gamble on an injury prone player, especially with a fee involved?

At the end of the day he was to miss 75% of league games and could only make 13 appearances in all competitions since returning south of the border last summer.

Another man who's Exeter season was curtailed was the aforementioned Crama and the hulking Frenchman would undoubtedly have been City's player of the season had his loan not been ended in January.

Brentford recalled Crama and promptly sold him on to Millwall where he's played well despite being out of position at right back.

With City stumping up for Yfeko they simply need him to deliver Crama-style performances next season.

After having a couple of campaigns which have seen Gary Caldwell's plans decimated by injuries, any hopes of a top-half finish next season must see Yfeko playing upwards of 75% of games rather than missing them.

If he's on the pitch there's no doubt that he'll put in quality performances on the left of that back three, but at the moment that is a big if.

Caldwell knows his new permanent signing's importance and he's drummed it into the former Tottenham Hotspur prospect that he has to make sure he gives himself the best chance of regular avaliability going forward.

Yfeko clearly has huge potential

Speaking to the club's media team after the reveal of the retained list, Caldwell said of Yfeko: "When people saw him at the start of the season everyone was amazed that we had that clause [to buy him].

"He's [now] got another two years at the club but obviously the two injuries he's had are big setbacks this year. We've not seen enough of him.

"I spoke to Johnly and told him that he has every tool at his disposal to be a top, top player.

"Now he has to make sure he stays on the pitch next year, that he's professional, that he's consistent with his work, because his ceiling is huge with what he can achieve in his career and we're delighted to sign him this summer."

Given that City have struggled to bring youth players straight from the academy into the first team of late, finding these gems from elsewhere and polishing them up seems to be the plan.

Millenic Alli was a shining example of what can be achieved by with this route but, while a Yfeko sale might be some way down the line, getting him on the pitch and performing next season will be the priority.

Matching Crama's levels is one thing, but the minimum requirement is that Yfeko betters the Frenchman's 26 appearances for City this season in the next.