Aston Villa, Crystal Palace deals set the standard for Exeter City - they need to repeat the trick this summer | OneFootball

Exeter City have been pursuing a risky method in keeper recruitment but if they can keep getting it right they'll be in good stead next season.

It's a risky policy, but it's one that's been paying off for Exeter City.

The Grecians have now had an on-loan keeper as first choice in three of the last four seasons, starting with Cameron Dawson, then of Sheffield Wednesday, in the League Two promotion campaign of 2021/22.

Jamal Blackman was the only contracted man during that period, and he was between the sticks in 2022/23 before Aston Villa's Viljami Sinisalo followed, and Joe Whitworth swapped Crystal Palace for St James Park in the season that's just finished.

It's a bit of a high-wire act, especially with the two young stoppers who've stopped by in the last couple of seasons, but it's fair to say that those three borrowed keepers have each been a roaring success.

It was Dawson who brought the phrase, 'don't fall in love with loan players' to St James Park and there were misguided hopes he'd stay to see if City could stay in League One, but he remained with The Owls to challenge for a regular starting berth before joining Rotherham United in 2024.

Sinisalo was the pick of the borrowed trio, and he's gone on to play at the highest level, leaving Villa to join the perennial Scottish Premiership winners, who also reached the Champions League knock-out stages this season, Celtic in the summer after his stint at City.

Sinisalo is Exeter's best loan keeper yet

He's been behind the 38-year-old Kasper Schmeichel in the picking order at Celtic Park, but he stepped in and was more than capable when the Dane picked up an injury towards the end of the season, playing six games in the league, conceding four and keeping two clean sheets in addition to two games in the Scottish Cup.

Whitworth was the next cab off the rank and he, like Sinisalo, picked up the fans' player of the year award during his loan spell, but he didn't stand out like his Finnish predecessor and his award felt like more of a comment on the rest of the team rather than overt praise for his efforts.

Perhaps the exception that proves the rule is that Blackman was probably the weakest of the quintet in what was the best and most exciting team of the four.

He looked cumbersome and was injured a lot for a keeper. Frankly, he never looked fit and was in poor shape for a professional athlete.

Now with Shaun MacDonald, City's long-term No.2, leaving Devon's capital this summer, there are currently no contracted keepers at the club older than 19-year-old Frankie Phillips, who's signed on for another 12 months at least.

The Grecians will have to bring in a new No.2 on a permanent basis at least, unless academy product Harry Lee signs the deal he's been offered and is promoted from youngster to first-team member.

Exeter need to sign two keepers this summer

It seems that City may again be scouring the youth teams of Premier League sides to find their next gem, with keeper coach and City great Kevin Miller given the responsibility of making it a hat-trick of quality loan signings since he joined Gary Caldwell's backroom staff in December of 2022.

And while all young players come with a risk, especially ones that could be taken away and sold on from beneath you half-way through the season if they do really well, it's a risky game that's worked for City recently.

It feels like it's going to be a struggle for the Grecians next season and a quality keeper is going to be absolutely vital in ensuring Exeter can survive in 2025/26 and make it five years in the third tier.

With Blackman being the worst of the last four City keepers, there's clearly value in this policy, but there's something fundamentally unnerving about not having a front-line keeper for a supporter of a smaller club and the lack of stability goes against everything fans are told about defensive units.

We're constantly told that City's budget is in the bottom four of League One, so getting the most bang out of their buck is a must and if this is a way to do it, then there's a need to keep rolling the dice.

There are lots of issues with the Grecians' playing personnel, but if Miller can keep pulling rabbits out of the hat, then City should, at least, be fairly solid next season with a strong defensive unit already in place, assuming they can stay fit next season.