Yahoo News Dion Rankine hails Exeter City impact as former Chelsea loanee signs for Wigan Athletic
Former Exeter City loanee Dion Rankine has completed a permanent move from Chelsea to Wigan Athletic. The Cobham graduate moves on from Chelsea to embark on a new chapter of his career after agreeing a permanent move to the League One club.
The versatile winger or wing-back impressed in his first Football League loan last season, featuring on a regular basis for the Grecians in League One, and now continues his footballing journey at the same level with the Latics. And the 21-year-old has hailed Exeter City as having played a huge part in his development.
"I'm so excited to be here," Dion told Wigan’s official website. "It's been in the works for a while, so I'm really excited to be here and get the deal done - I can't wait to get out there in front of the fans now. It's the right step for my career. I feel like I've got a really good opportunity to progress and develop, and I just want to play the best football that I can here."
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And the 21-year-old explained how his loan move to Devon exceeded his expectations and that he made friends for life at St James Park.
“I really enjoyed it,” Rankine said, speaking to Chelsea's official website, before the move to Wigan was made official. “Before I started I just really wanted to go there, play men’s football and get good minutes. But when I look back on it, it exceeded my own expectations. I played plenty of football, I made friends for life and enjoyed every minute.
“Comparing it to playing for the Under-21s, you’re playing so much more football – sometimes two or three games a week. It’s a completely different challenge. And then you have the actual matches where teams play completely differently from anything I had come up against before. It’s just so different.
“The fans were great as well. Exeter is fan-owned so they are really supportive and really invested in the team. I felt that, and the whole team felt that extra boost when we played at home. I think I had a good season and it was good to have my first full season in men’s football. I’m excited and ready to go and kick on.”
The winger admits it was a big jump moving to the other side of the country, but he acknowledged it was an important change that allowed him to learn more about himself.
He continued: “It was the first time that I had lived that far away from my family – probably about four-and-a-half hours away. It was a big jump, but I had really great people around me and my family would come down for home games and stay over which was quite nice.
“I learned a lot about how to manage my body during that time. I’m 21 and you can get away with not having the greatest recovery sometimes, but when you’re playing Saturday and Tuesday every week you have to recover well or you will really struggle. That was something I learned to get better at.”
Rankine was also full of praise for the culture and dressing room that he experienced at the Devon club, with the midfielder pointing to one player in particular who helped him.
“I had spoken to the manager and the director before joining so I knew what I was going to be getting involved with,” he added.
“It was quite a young team so when I got there everyone was so welcoming. It was really good and everyone was really happy to have me there. It was almost like I just slid into the group - it wasn’t really a big change for me. The changing room was really vibrant.
“After my injury, there were a couple of new signings and one of them was Yanic Wildschut. He was really supportive of me. I think because we played in a similar position and he has had a really good career, it was good to have advice from him and the way he goes about things. He was almost like a mentor to me. He was really good to have. Now I have had my first full season, I’m really excited to kick on and hopefully get more goals and assists.”
