Brighton, Kamari Doyle evidence should fuel Exeter City exit in early 2025 | OneFootball

Sonny Cox has struggled at Exeter City this season so he should take a leaf out of Brighton's Kamari Doyle's book and head out on loan.

They said it's always Sonny in Exeter except, maybe, it won’t be come January.

Exeter City’s media team riffed on the long running sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia on announcing Sonny Cox’s new contract towards the end of last season.

There was excitement and widespread approval that the 20-year-old had extended his time in Devon’s capital to 2026 after graduating from the academy.

The news came after vastly-improved appearances for City following a short spell at Yeovil in the National League South that then saw him go on and grab a few goals in League One in the second half of the season.

The hope this summer was that he would push on and provide the goal-scoring foil to Josh Magennis’ hustle, bustle and excellent target-man play up top.

It’s not worked out like that and a string of underwhelming performances have seen the Exeter-born striker fall down the pecking order behind the back-from-injury Jay Bird in recent weeks.

Cox hasn’t played a minute in the last three games and his previous two starts saw him depart the scene at halftime. Overall, he's started two games and made nine appearances in League One without finding the net.

It’s far too early to give up on Cox and no one at the club wants that, but it just feels like he needs to go out on loan again to get some more game time and much-needed confidence at a good level, preferably at National League or above.

The suggestion shouldn’t daunt him, it shouldn’t be seen as a backward step, more as another route on the pathway to reaching his full potential.

Cox can take inspiration from Doyle

Cox obviously has good recent experience of a loan move and he should take notice of one of his new teammates in Kamari Doyle, who has dropped down from Brighton in the Premier League to play for City this season.

Doyle is an immensely talented player with wonderful technique but he’s had to fight for a place as he gets used to playing against seasoned pros at a level that’s higher than he’s played consistently before - a level that is also well below the one he will surely reach.

The fact that Doyle isn’t just being handed starts will be good for him in the long run as he's still getting plenty of minutes and boss Gary Caldwell is trying to take him to the next level by insisting the attacking midfielder asserts himself more in games.

“He’s a young player with a huge future,” Caldwell told the club’s media team after the 2-0 win over Stevenage in September.

“But we need to see more moments in the game," He continued. "We’ve seen probably four or five moments where his quality is superb but I want to keep pushing him, I want to see more of that.

“For him to make the jump he has, to come into League One, he’s scored two goals in three starts now which is a brilliant output from him but we’ll keep pushing him, keep driving him to be better.”

Doyle made his debut for England’s Under 20s in the last international break in a clear sign that he’s making progress and catching the eye while on loan.

The 20-year-old has started on the bench in four of the last six games that he’s been available for City but has four goals and an assist to his name in 13 appearances this season.

Cox can benefit from loan move once again

Cox has the talent to start every game for City but given his inexperience, and the fact that he's only showing his ability in flashes, it means he’s having to work on things at the training ground in order to earn more starts in the hustle and bustle of League One.

He perhaps needs a morale-boosting run a couple of rungs down the ladder to learn a bit more about his game and rediscover that goalscoring touch that we know is in there.

Doyle’s signing, along with that of Amani Richards and the return to fitness of Bird, might mean a loan is more palatable to Caldwell, who now has options in attack that were sorely missing last season.

With no international break now until March it feels like the perfect time to let Cox go and play somewhere without the risk of Magennis or Doyle being called away to represent their nation and City being left short-staffed again.

If he’s not going to play at City it makes perfect sense for Cox to go out on loan again, maybe even to link up with Pedro Borges again at Yeovil - especially as his last spell there did wonders for Cox when he came back to St James Park.