Exeter City’s latest signing, Nicky Ajose, became Matt Taylor’s seventh summer recruit ahead of the 2019/20 season.
The forward has turned out for some big names in the EFL over the course of his career, and we decided to take a closer look at his career so far…
Born in Bury, Nicky came through the ranks with Manchester United and was awarded his first professional contract in 2009. Trying to break into a side that had recently been crowned Premier League champions proved a tough task and Nicky opted to join Bury on loan in 2010/11 in League Two. It was to be a successful stint as he helped the club to secure promotion with 13 goals in 32 games.
The following summer saw Nicky depart Manchester United permanently as he joined Peterborough United under manager Darren Ferguson, Peterborough paid an undisclosed fee for the striker, rumoured to be around £300,000. He remained on the books with the Posh for three seasons but often spent time out on loan as he learned his trade at the likes of Scunthorpe United, Chesterfield, Crawley Town and Swindon Town.
He would then join Leeds United permanently for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £150,000, but found regular first-team opportunities hard to come by as he moved to Crewe Alexandra on loan in the 2014/15 season where he netted eight times in 31 appearances.
Nicky really kicked on the following year as he moved on to pastures new with Swindon Town. An impressive season personally, he notched 26 goals in 40 appearances for the club. After impressing there, Charlton Athletic came calling as they brought him to London ahead of the 2016/17 season for a reported £800k fee.
In his first year with Charlton he went on to spend the second half of the season back at Swindon and helped himself to 12 goals in total for both clubs. He spent the first part of the 2017/18 campaign back with his boyhood club, Bury, before finishing that campaign off back at Charlton as the club narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship.
Nicky played 16 times for Charlton last season, finding the net three times, before switching to Mansfield Town for the second half of the season where he played 11 times and netted twice. After being released by Athletic at the end of the 2018/19 season, Nicky then put pen to paper and joined the Grecians looking to help Matt Taylor’s men to success.