Exeter sign Irish midfielder Doyle-Hayes.

Exeter City have signed Jake Doyle-Hayes, an Irish midfielder, from League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers.

The 26-year-old, who graduated from Aston Villa’s academy, has joined the club for an undisclosed fee.

He reunites with City manager Gary Caldwell, who previously worked with the midfielder at Hibernian as an assistant. “He was excellent during our time there, a really competitive, aggressive midfield player,” Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon.

“He can play as an eight or a six, he’s somebody with a real quality in possession as well, technically very good, physically very good.”

Doyle-Hayes began his career in England at Aston Villa’s academy, where he made three EFL Cup appearances. He went on loan to Cambridge United and Cheltenham Town before joining St Mirren in November 2020.

He played 30 games for St Mirren across all competitions before joining Hibernian in the summer of 2021. He went on to play 70 games for Hibs before leaving by mutual consent in January following an injury-plagued season and returning to his homeland with Sligo Rovers.

Doyle-Hayes announced in May that he would take legal action against his former club after a tackle by a previous manager in 2022 caused him long-term injuries.

Lawyers for the player stated that the midfielder’s career had been “greatly restricted” by the ankle injury caused by the incident. “He’s someone every window I’ve really kind of spoke to his agent and enquired about,” according to Caldwell.

“He’s been at Hibs, he’s had an injury, and he’s spent the last part of his career in Ireland purely to get minutes after a bad ankle injury, and he’s been playing week in and week out in the League of Ireland, so he comes in very fit and ready to go.

“But not only that I think longer term he has real potential to be a top player for the club.”

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