Oxford United have announced their second new signing since the end of the season. Exeter City midfielder Liam Sercombe will join the club once his contract expires at ‘The Grecians’ and has signed a two year deal with Oxford holding the option of a third year.
Sercombe has spent his entire career at Exeter after joining the club at the age of 10. He signed his first professional contract in 2007 and went on to make over 250 appearances, helping the Devon side to promotion via the play-offs from the Conference and automatic promotion from League Two in successive seasons. The 25 year-old played 41 times last season scoring 4 goals as City finished in 10th place in League Two, 7 points outside the play-offs.
Oxford Chief Executive and Head Coach Michael Appleton had a bid rejected during the January transfer window but were able to start talks with Sercombe in March as his contract ticked down. Whilst the deal was finalised once the season had finished, Sercombe admitted that he had kept a look out for Oxford’s results during the final stages of the season:
“I was keeping an eye on the results because it was looking like I was going there and I wanted to see how they ended the season. It was good to see they finished strongly.”
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Appleton was delighted to end the long chase for Sercombe’s signature and told the official club website:
“He is a terrific competitor, he links things together well and every time we’ve watched him he has caught the eye. He has a lot of experience for someone who is still only 25 and we think he will be a major asset to this football club.”
Sercombe joins Kemar Roofe in the United squad after Roofe completed a move from West Brom following a successful loan spell yesterday. The two new signings along with skipper Jake Wright, midfielder Danny Rose and full-back Joe Skarz all sealing new contracts has created a lot of close-season optimism amongst Oxford supporters ahead of the 2015/16 campaign.
