Exeter City’s worst signing ever? The Luton Town man who completely disappeared
It’s not that Admiral Muskwe was bad, the main problem was that he completely disappeared.
The forward is surely in the running for Exeter City’s worst-ever signing after making a grand total of eight appearances in all competitions across a season-long loan from Luton Town.
The forward, now 26, arrived at St James Park as the Grecians’ 10th signing of the summer in 2023 and looked tailor-made to slot in as the club’s No.1 striker after being given the No.10 shirt.
In true City style he also arrived with a bit of a niggle and was injured straight after his debut off the bench at Burton Albion on September 2nd.
He didn’t feature again until brought on as an 89th-minute sub in the 1-0 home loss to Barnsley on October 7th.
He then went on to make just six appearances in League One, amassing a total of 319 minutes on the pitch before picking up an injury in action for Zimbabwe on November 15th of that year.
His final game for the Grecians would come over a month later with him playing the full 90 in the woeful 3-0 loss away at Fleetwood Town.
And so, in eight appearances that included no goals, zero assists and without a single shot on target, the loan forward’s time at Exeter was, effectively, over.
It couldn’t have been a worse deal at a worse time.
City were crying out for attacking options and were in the midst of a run of 100 games without a league win when Muskwe picked up his injury.
Presumably, the striker was on a decent wage as well, having risen up the leagues with Luton, who were, at the time, in the midst of their maiden Premier League campaign.
The failure of James Scott to grab the mantle was also causing boss Gary Caldwell serious headaches as City fans turned against the Scottish striker.
Youngster Sonny Cox didn’t look ready for the cut and thrust of League One action and had been loaned out to Yeovil Town in the National League South.
If a lack of goals wasn’t bad enough, seeing the bulky centre-back Cheick Diabate wondering gamely around as a sole forward led many to question the sanity of their manager.
‘We felt we needed some physicality’ was the reasoning from Caldwell at the time.
But needs must, and it was, at least, thinking out of the box. The fact that Diabate never got anywhere near the ball in the box also showed that it was a barmy call.
There was hope Muskwe would return to Exeter
When Muskwe picked up his hamstring injury, it was described as ‘serious’ by the City boss and that he would be out for a number of months.
In December 2023, Caldwell told the BBC: “As we get closer to January that will probably be a discussion we’ll have with Luton, see what happens there and how much he is going to be out for in terms of the rest of the season.”
January came and went, Mo Eisa arrived on loan to bolster the front line and there was still no news on Muskwe’s return date or the status of his loan deal.
We think he remained a City player for the rest of the season and failed to make another appearance for the club.
It’s unclear whether he actually ever returned to City at any point.
