Archie Collins has been spotted in training at one of his former EFL sides as the midfielder targeted by Leicester City remains without a club.
The Foxes have been tied to a move to the midfielder, who opted to leave Peterborough United at the end of his contract in order to find a new club, having also been linked with Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United and Portsmouth among others over the past month.
Collins Eyed In Training
While there is no end in sight as to where the 26-year-old will end up in the coming weeks, it has now emerged that Collins has been spotted training at Exeter City.
Having broken out in senior football at St James’ Park, the defensive midfielder played 220 times for the Grecians, who are preparing for a new season under Matt Taylor in League Two.
Speaking to DevonLive about the involvement of Collins in their pre-season preparations, the former Bristol Rovers boss said:
“Archie is using us at the moment to get himself ready for his his next move and we wish him all the best in relation to that and we’re using Archie to raise the standards to improve the level of training. The more good players you’ve got on the training pitch, the more the realization of where players are and what’s needed to get to the the required level is.
“He’s on show and it helps the players. So, great to have Archie back with us for a couple of days. It might be longer, we don’t know. But we do know that he’s going to go on to bigger and better things and he certainly deserves that.”
The chances of Russell Martin’s side have somewhat improved since their initial interest emerged, with Sheffield Wednesday since moving on to sign Barry Bannan and Billy Mitchell from Millwall, while Oxford United were handed a transfer embargo expected to be lifted in January.
State Of Play Unchanged
Archie Collins is perhaps surprisingly still without a club heading towards August, and now, with still no end in sight as to where he will end up, he has opted instead to train with a former club in Exeter City.
The Grecians were not in the race to sign the midfielder and will definitely not be involved in any sort of contract war with clubs that are as high as the Championship, especially with their budget constraints.
Having been one of the best midfielders in League One over the past few seasons, it is fascinating how there has been no progress to finding a new destination, and while there is no doubt that he should find a new club, there may be some other factors in play which has so far dissuaded clubs like Leicester City or Portsmouth in making an offer.
Now having shifted Harry Winks off of their books in the wake of his move to Cagliari, now is a logical time to accelerate their interest in signing Collins, now they have secured their number one priority incoming in the form of Conor Chaplin.
