Josh Magennis’ reveal puts Exeter City, Rangers summer switch in huge doubt | OneFootball

Johnly Yfeko has been excellent for Exeter City on loan from Rangers but his fresh hamstring injury must put a permanent transfer in doubt.

It wasn't pretty, but it was a much needed three points for Exeter City at the weekend.

The Grecians headed to rock-bottom Cambridge United and ground out a 1-0 win thanks to a Josh Magennis header in a match that ultimately saw the end of Garry Monk's tenure at the U's.

It was a good week for Exeter's Northern Ireland international striker who made it four goals in his last three games.

But it was his comments after the game that sent some Grecians into a frenzy as he revealed that on-loan defender Johnly Yfeko's latest hamstring injury has put him out of action for the rest of the season.

City boss Gary Caldwell had been fairly tight-lipped over the Rangers defender's layoff, with many supporters hoping to see him to feature again this season.

However, Magennis has revealed that Yfeko's season is now, in fact, over.

“We’ve been in some dark holes recently," the 34-year-old told the club's media team at the Abbey Stadium. "I think with the additions that we’ve made with Al [Hartridge] and Angus MacDonald coming in, they’re massive parts [of the defensive improvement], because they’re no-nonsense defenders.

“They defend first but they can play and they’ve got real quality. With Sweens [Pierce Sweeney] and that coming back it will bolster the squad.

“Obviously Johnly’s done now for the season, looking forward into next year. Injuries come and go in football but it’s the next man up, you’ve always got to be ready to go, and the boys coming in have shown that they’re ready to do that.”

Fresh Yfeko injury raises concern

Yfeko was brilliant for City in the first quarter of the campaign, helping Gary Caldwell's defence to an impressive early-season record of clean sheets and a lofty league position.

However, he did a hamstring after City's 2-1 loss to Reading on October 22nd and was sidelined until New Year's Day.

On his return the Rangers centre back made two more appearances, totaling 52 minutes, before feeling an injury to his other hamstring.

It is thought the second injury happened the same day as it became clear that Tristan Crama's loan from Brentford was being cut short and he was off to join Millwall on a permanent deal.

That was some double blow for Caldwell and he did move to bring in Ed Turns and Angus MacDonald on deadline day to cover for their losses.

But what do City do now with Yfeko? The Grecians have a clause in his loan deal to sign him from the Ibrox side and it had looked like an absolute no-brainer that the deal would be done, assuming the price was realistically attainable.

Exeter now have a big Yfeko decision

But now that he's had two fairly-serious injuries on the same area of the body, albeit on different legs, there must be serious questions about his durability and whether he may be the worst possible thing for a player to be; injury prone.

Caldwell has spoken in glowing terms about Yfeko in the past, saying: "Johnly is a young player with a huge future and if we could tie him down to be a permanent player at this club, then I think it would be a brilliant thing to do."

But Exeter City is not a place where money can be squandered.

If these two injuries are a complete freak occurrence, then great, go ahead and do the deal. However, it needs a good looking at to establish the cause and reasons for both.

As good as Yfeko is, City cannot afford to carry anyone who can only play 25% of games a season and that is a huge worry for both the club and the player going forward.