Neil Warnock has admitted his frustration after missing out on Ipswich Town attacker Jon Walters, who has moved to Stoke City instead.

News:

After the victory at Sheffield United on Saturday Warnock told journalists at the post match press conference that he remained confident of nailing his top transfer target this summer. It now appears that the player in question was Ipswich Town attacker Jon Walters, who has today joined Stoke City for £2.7m rising to £3.3m.

Warnock told the Fulham Chronicle: ““The thing is Jonathan could have played up front or on the right, and now I’ve got to look for two different players for the same role.”

To pay that much for a single player would have marked a big departure from the previous policy of QPR’s board and for a player that only scored eight goal last season it would have represented a huge risk. Walters has recently been training with the youth team at Ipswich after falling out with Roy Keane about his protracted transfer away from Portman Road. The player has long favored a move to his native North West, and with Premiership sides like Stoke circling it seems strange that Rangers were ever in the hunt at all.

Had Walters come to Loftus Road he would have been competing for a place in an attack that has scored seven goals in two league games so far. That includes two goals in two league games from Jamie Mackie, who is now hoping to catch the eye of Scotland manager Craig Levein after a summer move from Plymouth.

Mackie told the Fulham Chronicle: “When I found out Neil Warnock’s interest in me in the summer I was absolutely delighted. It’s pretty much a dream move. I’m from up this way, and my family and my close friends are able to watch me every week. Position-wise, it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be playing centre-forward in this formation. With that in mind I’ll keep my goals target to myself, but I’m extremely confident in my ability. I qualify for Scotland as well as England and it’s a great thing to have on the CV."

Elsewhere QPR Reserve were 2-1 victors against their counterparts from Millwall at the Harlington training ground on Tuesday. Gary Borrowdale played a full 90 minutes, and out of favour striking pair Rowan Vine and Alessandro Pellicori had a half each. Both goals came from trialists.

Reserve team manager Ronnie Jepson told the club’ official website: "It's far better to have games like this than to try and replicate match situations in training. The more fixtures we can get like this, the better it will be for the lads' development and their fitness levels Mick Jones and Keith Curle were both out there this afternoon, having a look. Players like Joe Oastler and Lee Brown have to show the Manager and the Assistant Manager that they are capable of taking the next step. "We've got matches arranged for the next couple of weeks now against West Ham and Ipswich, leading up to the international break. And we'll have another look at it after that to organise some more. It's important that the lads who aren't involved with the first team have regular matches. There's nothing worse than doing all your pre-season training, and then kicking your heels for three or four weeks. That's what happens in the reserve league sometimes, which is why we chose to come out of it. It is far better this way as it allows us to pick and chose when we want to play reserve games. "On the flip-side, if we have a lot of suspensions or injuries, we don't have to worry about being unable to fulfil a reserve fixture."

QPR: Elvijs Putnins, Gary Borrowdale, Lee Brown, Joe Oastler, Max Ehmer, Romone Rose, Danny Fitzsimmons, Rowan Vine Trialist, Trialist, Trialist

Subs: Alessandro Pellicori, Michael Doughty, Jordan Hibbert

Next up for the Rangers first team is a home fixture against Scunthorpe United this Saturday. Midfielder Alejandro Faurlin, strangely talkative this week after struggling with the language last year, told the Kilburn Times Rangers must not take the relegation favourites lightly.

Faurlin said: “We cannot take them lightly, they are a strong team and they will be aggressive so we need to be ready. We must win our games at home, this is very important. We are more able to deal with these matches now because we have players who can battle and players who can play good football. "It's a very good mix here now. We are in a good moment and we need to keep it this way. We need to keep going with this good attitude and mentality."

Off the pitch QPR’s spending on agents fees over the last 12 months has been revealed. LFW finds it utterly ludicrous that clubs have to reveal what they spend on agents in each transfer, but are allowed to keep the transfer fees as undisclosed, but for what it’s worth the R’s have committed £465, 240 to agents’ payments in the last 12 months. That formed a total of more than £10m given to agents by Championship clubs with Middlesbrough (£1.4m) and Newcastle (£1.07m) spending the most and Scunthorpe (£33k) and Blackpool (£40k) spending the least. Six clubs spent more than QPR over the course of the 12 months. The full report can be read here.

Former R’s

Captain of Joe Gallen’s championship winning youth team Danny Maguire may be heading to Spain after receiving an offer from Glenn Hoddle’s prestigious academy. Maguire has been training with League Two side Crewe during the summer but Alex are in no position to offer him a deal at the moment after he spent a year out of the game with a bad injury.

Veteran Crewe manager Dario Gradi said: “Danny has been offered a place at Glenn Hoddle's Academy in Spain and I am sure it is something that will be appealing for him. He is more than welcome to stay here. He is a good player and isn't costing us anything. I am not in the position to offer him anything at the moment, but him coming here was more about him getting himself fully fit again after he had a year out of the game. He is a good lad and whatever he decides to do, we wish him well."

Championship Shorts:

- In one of the more bizarre transfers of the summer Portsmouth have sold Kevin prince Boateng to Genoa, who have immediately offloaded him. Genoa have paid £5m for the Ghanaian international but immediately loaned him to AC Milan after completing the deal and expect to sell him to AC next summer at a profit. Genoa president Enrico Preziosi said: “Milan have an unusual situation, as they have many players in the last year of their contracts and are keeping an eye on the balance sheet. Will he return to Genoa? He could do, but in a way I hope he doesn't. If Milan buy him outright then it'll mean we both saw this is a great player and Genoa will have made a healthy profit."

- Ipswich have signed Celtic defender Darren O’Dea on loan for the first six months of the season. Celtic boss Neil Lennon said: “He doesn't want to be a squad player, he wants to play and I can't guarantee him that. Ipswich have given him the opportunity to go and play and I think it will be good for him to get some games under his belt because we're bringing in other people allied to the ones we've got."

- Crystal Palace have completed the signing of Stuart O’Keefe on a free transfer from Southend, and are also eyeing up a deal for former Dutch international Edgar Davids who is a free agent.

- Millwall have moved quickly to secure Preston midfielder Darren Carter on an extended loan deal. Carter initially signed for three months at The Den but has extended his stay through to January.

Photo: Action Images

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