Former fans' favourite Ryan Harley has re-joined Exeter City on a loan deal until January.
The popular attacking midfielder, who scored 32 goals in a 128 appearances for the Grecians between 2008 and 2011, has returned to St James's Park having not featured for his current club Swindon Town this season.
City manager Paul Tisdale confirmed that Harley had joined initially on a loan deal, but added that the Grecians were keen to make the move permanent when the transfer window reopens in the new year.
"It is a loan as it can't be anything other than a loan at the moment, because we are outside the transfer window but, to all intense and purposes, that will transfer into a permanent signing in January," said Tisdale, who added that Harley would need time to get back up to speed with things at Exeter despite having spent a time training with the club in late September and early October.
"He has not trained with us in the past month, so that process needs to happen again," said Tisdale.
"We will need to assess his fitness as he has not played a game for a long time and his training has been a bit sporadic. I think we need a bit of common sense on everyone's behalf on when we thrust him back into action.
"We are looking at this with a sensible view that he is someone who will add to our team, but I'm certainly not going to rush the impact that he will make on our play. We will see what happens over the next week or two, but at what point he'll start to emerge as a starter in the team I can't tell yet.
"Every situation is different and it needs different decisions. Results dictate things, as does players being in-form, out-of-form and injuries. These are all things that will influence when a new player comes into the team. We have been playing very well over the past couple of months. Our form has been very good over the last dozen games and this is a player to add to what we are building at present and how we are developing."
