Exeter City have an obvious problem after Luton Town transfer decision - £1.5m doesn't compensate | OneFootball

Exeter City selling Millenic Alli to Luton Town for £1.5m looked a good deal at the time but as he's not been replaced it could turn out to a mistake.

Few Grecians expected to be ruing two dropped points at Reading before a ball was kicked on Tuesday night.

However, Exeter City’s relegation fight did indeed gain a welcome boost during the week after battling to a 0-0 stalemate with the League One play-off chasers.

But in reality it was a big missed opportunity to take all three points with a couple of golden chances going begging and Ryan Trevitt, in particular, will be wondering how he didn't get at least one.

Despite an improved attacking performance in the second 45, it was the same old problems for City as they struggled in vain to get the ball into the net when it really, really mattered.

It’s all eyes on Saturday’s huge clash with rock-bottom Shrewsbury Town next, but you suspect Gary Caldwell could have been sitting a lot more comfortably this morning if Millenic Alli had been at his disposal at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Exeter badly missing Alli's goals

Alli, for all his many faults, would have put one of those chances away and City would be heading into the weekend six points clear of the drop with 13 left to play.

Alli was often a deeply-maddening figure in a City shirt, shooting from ludicrous angles when a much better pass was on and repeatedly running down blind alleys being at the top of the list of his most-frustrating habits.

But he was pretty-damn reliable in and around the box, slotting 12 goals in 33 appearances in the league before joining Luton Town in their Championship relegation fight for a reported £1.5m transfer fee in January.

He’s had a limited impact for the Hatters with five games and no goals or assists so far, but he’s only started one game to date.

Perhaps his most notable contribution up to now has been firing wide with the goal gaping from around two-yards out, which, to be fair to the Irishman, is really out of character.

Lack of quality up front not a new thing for Exeter

But he would have played pretty much every minute on offer for City if he had stayed, and he might well be up to 15 goals in all competitions given some of the chances that have gone begging of late.

City’s struggles in front of goal are not a new phenomenon and Alli was the exception to the rule.

Josh Magennis has chipped in with a few goals in the last few weeks, but he’s still four behind Alli’s League One total of nine despite playing pretty much every minute of every game and being on penalties.

If City do go down this season, then the Alli sale will definitely be considered as a bad one, especially as they failed to strengthen up front yet again in the last window.

If Exeter go down, the Alli deal will be a disaster

It took the Grecians a decade to get out of League Two the last time they were relegated from the third tier after a three-year spell, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if something similar was to happen this time around.

That £1.5m was too good to turn down at the time, but Alli’s goals haven’t been replaced and the ongoing struggles in terms of recruiting quality forwards is beyond a joke now.

His direct replacement on the left side of the attack, Andrew Oluwabori, has played 11 minutes since arriving on deadline day, so we're not really sure how good he is or can be.

One thing we do know is that the revenue lost from dropping a league will easily surpass Alli's fee in no time at all if City do end up in the bottom four this year.

It's still up for grabs but, in hindsight, selling Alli looks like a bad call now, especially if City get turned over at the weekend by the wily Gareth Ainsworth and our old pal David Wheeler.