How Man United and Luton Town can play a role in Exeter City's perfect end to the summer | OneFootball

While Exeter City are having a quiet transfer window, Ollie Watkins to Man Utd and Millenic Alli leaving Luton Town could really shake things up.

The football's nearly back, but the transfer window still has a lot of rumbling on left to do.

Exeter City, like all clubs, are still working away on doing some business, with boss Gary Caldwell expecting to bolster his squad before the big off, and certainly before the window slams shut.

Money's always too tight to mention down at St James Park, but there is clearly a bit of budget left to spend, with Caldwell keen to fill his final loan spot in the squad, as well as adding some more permanent arrivals with a few departments still needing cover or quality.

The Grecians have built their club up on the back of developing and selling players in recent years, and they'll be hoping for a couple of big deals to get done elsewhere this window to help keep the wheels turning down in Devon's capital.

One big hope for City's accountants is that Manchester United's reported ongoing interest in Ollie Watkins comes to fruition.

Exeter hoping for one final Watkins payout

The Grecians academy product is thought to have earned Exeter north of £5m across his career, with an initial £1.8m move to Brentford and then a windfall thanks to a 15% sell-on clause in the £28m deal that took him from west London to Aston Villa financing for the much-needed redevelopment of the Cliff Hill training ground.

Further payments through his England international appearances have helped, but there's the juicy carrot of one final big move for the striker, with the Red Devils widely said to be in, so far, unsuccessful discussions with Villa for their star striker.

Just this week we've seen multiple reports that Unai Emery's side have told the Red Devils that Watkins is not for sale but, as we know, money talks and everyone has a price.

What Watkins' is remains to be seen, but if United are to get their man it will be for a huge fee.

And that, surely, will mean Exeter receive yet another and, probably, final cash injection from the pedigree cash cow that is Watkins, due to being entitled to 15% of whatever Brentford receive for Watkins from Aston Villa in sells ons.

Alli could also provide Exeter windfall

Another former Grecian that City bean counters will be keeping an eye on is Luton Town's Millenic Alli.

The versatile wideman spent just 12 months at St James Park before being sold on to the Hatters for a fee in the region of £1.5m in January.

It was fantastic business with Alli arriving from Halifax for a fee thought to be just five figures.

City being City, they will have insisted on a sell-on in the deal that took Alli temporarily into the Championship, and they'll be hoping that early-summer interest in the Irishman is reignited.

There's said to be plenty of interest too, with Football Insider linking Sheffield United, Leicester City and Middlesbrough to the forward.

Depending on Alli's stance, Luton will surely command a decent fee for the 25-year-old, who came in and almost helped to keep the Hatters in the second tier with a flurry of goals towards the end of the season.

All in all, he bagged four in 16 appearances, largely from a left-wing back role and mostly from the bench.

Luton will obviously want to keep hold of him to help fire them back into the Championship at the first attempt, and they surely don't need the cash as parachute payments from their time in the Premier League continue to roll in.

So while Exeter potter along in League One, trying to build a squad that can take them to top-half safety, all Grecians will have more than a passing interest at the top of the transfer market this summer.

While any cash received will certainly not be splashed, all is welcome, and it will be carefully spent over the next few years in a typically thoughtful and considerate manner.

Those injections of cash are one of the club's main revenue streams and, fingers crossed, it turns into a river once again before the summer is out.