Following Jon Walters’ move to Stoke on Wednesday, Neil Warnock has renewed his interest in Blackburn striker Jason Roberts.
Rangers were linked with Roberts, who has been told he has no future at Blackburn Rovers, a fortnight ago but were put off by his £30,000 a week wage demands. Now, having missed out on Walters, Warnock is attempting to secure Roberts for a second time with a loan deal.
He told the Fulham Chronicle “The closer it gets to the transfer deadline, the more players will want to play rather than kicking their heels in the reserves. The players we want are expensive, but it could be a case of working something out that suits everybody before we commit ourselves to a big fee and massive wages.”
Warnock had said at the end of last season, where QPR ended up with more loan players than they were allowed to use in a single game, that a return to the loan market early in this campaign would represent a failure. However such is Roberts’ quality, and Warnock’s frustration at missing out on other targets, a loan deal may be our only chance of strengthening the attack before the transfer deadline.
Currently leading the line for Rangers, and likely to do so again on Saturday, is Heidar Helguson. The 32 year old target man is the first QPR player to be called up for international duty in the forthcoming qualifying weekend. Helguson, capped 37 times by Iceland in his career, will be in their squad for the matches against Norway on Friday, September 3, and Denmark four days later. Neil Warnock was highly critical of the decision to take Helguson, Adel Taarabt and Kaspars Gorkss away for international friendlies earlier this month and is likely to lose the same trio again the weekend after next.
Off the field today Gianni Paladini has been giving his thoughts to the Daily Mirror on the transfer of Craig Bellamy to Cardiff City. The Football League agreed to ratify the deal today, which has taken place because Man City don’t want Bellamy to play for a Premiership rival and are willing to foot the majority of his £85,000 a week wage while he plays for Cardiff in the Championship. The move has drawn criticism for skewing the Championship, and because Cardiff have been subject to several winding up orders and still owe Motherwell transfer funds for Stephen Quinn.
Paladini said: “It is crazy, it is madness but with the new rules and limits of 25 players in a Premier League squad you will see more and more players coming to the Championship. I agree it's a bit funny but it's not for me to judge Cardiff. It's a great opportunity for a club like Cardiff even if what's happened with Bellamy has taken things to a whole new level. We have signed players who are on £20,000-a-week and only paid £6,000-a-week. But Bellamy is a big, big player and you can see that from the number of big clubs he's played for. But for us, it's all about having the best manager in the league and we have that in Neil Warnock.”
Former R’s
Jay Simpson is set to complete a move from Arsenal to Hull City in time to face Watford this weekend. Simpson scored 13 goals for QPR in the Championship last season but the R’s showed little interest in bringing him back to Loftus Road this summer when Arsenal made it clear he was surplus to requirements. Hull have offered Simpson a three year contract at the KC Stadium after the clubs agreed a fee that may eventually rise to £1m.
Championship Shorts:
- Hull have been able to sign Simpson despite their current cash problems after clearing Daniel Cousin from their wage bill. The former Rangers striker has moved to Larissa on a two year deal.
- Middlesbrough have signed centre back Matt Kilgallon on a season long loan deal from Sunderland. The Black Cat signed Kilgallon from Sheffield United in January after a protracted chase but he has only made seven appearances since and has moved in search of first team football.
- Crystal Palace are close to tying up a loan move for Ipswich striker Pablo Counago, who manager George Burley first signed when he was in charge of the Tractor Boys. Palace have also handed a two year deal to youth team keeper Wes Foderingham and are still waiting to hear if their contract offer has tempted Dutch legend Edgar Davids out of retirement.