Jayden Stockley, a striker from Poole in Dorset, had two spells with Exeter City between 2016 and 2019 - one on loan, the other on a permanent basis - either side of a spell in Scotland with Aberdeen. He left City to go to Preston North End for a reported fee of £750,000.

Starting as a trainee with AFC Bournemouth, his local league club, Jayden had actually played for the first-team whilst still in year 11 at school. As a young player he was to have a succession of loans as Bournemouth moved up the leagues. After time with a number of non-league clubs, starting at Dorchester, Jayden had signed temporarily for the likes of Torquay and Portsmouth (amongst others) prior to arriving at St James Park on loan in January 2016. Whilst with City Jayden scored ten times in 22 league games. 

Exeter was to be Jayden’s last Bournemouth loan destination before Aberdeen signed him on a pre-contract agreement in 2016. Spending a single season at Pittodrie, Jayden scored six goals in 38 appearances for the Dons whilst only making 12 starts for the club. His final game for Aberdeen was the Scottish Cup final defeat against Celtic on 27 May 2017. Then, on 31 August 2017, Jayden returned to Exeter for what was reported to be a club record fee in excess of £100,000.

Jayden cemented his return playing in the win over Newport County on 2 September 2017 and proceeded to play 48 games in all competitions in 2017/18 - including the play-off final defeat to Coventry City - scoring 25 times. This was to be followed in 2018/19 with 16 goals, including a hat trick at Oldham Athletic, before the end of December.

By this juncture, Jayden had scored 51 league and cup goals for Exeter City - ten during his 2016 loan spell; 41 in a season-and-a-half from August 2017. He was attracting interest from other clubs and, on 2 January 2019, after a release clause had been triggered in his contract, Jayden signed for Preston North End for an “undisclosed fee” widely reported to be £750,000. He was to be at Deepdale for two-and-a-half years, the last months of which were spent on loan at Charlton Athletic. Featuring in 71 outings in all competitions, 21 starts and 44 substitute appearances in the league, Jayden scored a total of nine goals for North End. Leaving the club in June 2021, Jayden signed permanently for Charlton Athletic and was there, scoring 23 goals since the start of his initial loan, until joining Fleetwood Town in January 2023 where he netted nine league goals when the club was relegated from League One in 2023/24.

Moving on again, he agreed terms with Port Vale in advance of the 2024/25 campaign.