Lee Cook as a Loan Option if Transfer Fails and other Possible Transfer Targets

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Ealing Gazette - Yann Tear Thursday 1st May 2008
QPR consider Cook loan option
Winger remains a target as Rs edge closer to Ramage and Cerny deals

Winger remains a target as Rs edge closer to Ramage and Cerny deals
QPR will look to sign Lee Cook on a season-long loan if they fail to agree a price for him with Fulham this summer.
Fulham want £2.5million for the winger, who has endured an injury-blighted season since moving to Craven Cottage from Rangers last July.
Rangers are desperate to take Cook back to Loftus Road but do not want to pay that kind of fee for a player who has struggled with a knee problem for over a year.
Cook, 25, has not played a competitive game for Fulham, and his former club made three unsuccessful bids to re-sign him on loan before he was loaned to Charlton.
One of those attempts was in January, when the two clubs were unable to reach an agreement over the terms of a proposed loan deal and Charlton were then able to capture the player before the transfer deadline.
Cook was again hampered by injury during his spell at The Valley, but QPR still want him back and are gearing up for more negotiations with Fulham once the season ends on Sunday.
Rangers want to pay closer to £1million with further payments based on appearances.
But should Fulham refuse to budge, one option now being considered is a year's loan with a view to a permanent move in 2009, which would give Cook the opportunity to prove his long-term fitness and return to his best form before Rangers agree to pay a heftier transfer fee for him.
Rangers also remain keen to bring Dan Shittu back to the club from Watford but again there are likely to be difficulties agreeing a fee, while Plymouth duo
Peter Halmosi and Krisztian Timar have been targets since their fellow Hungarian Akos Buzsaky swapped Argyle for W12.
Twenty-eight-year-old wide-man Halmosi has been watched by a number of clubs and imposing defender Timar, also 28, was this week named as Plymouth’s player of the year.
A goalkeeper, right-back and striker are also high priorities for coach Luigi De Canio, with versatile Newcastle defender Peter Ramage looking increasingly likely to be joining and Tottenham’s Czech keeper Radek Cerny also in the frame. But Rangers have turned down an opportunity to sign Fulham forward Stern John.
Robert Earnshaw is a player Rangers have shown an interest in and could land because Derby would be willing to sell the Wales international, while Watford’s Nathan Ellington and Wolves misfit Freddy Eastwood have also been considered.
But the striker QPR would dearly love to sign is Blackburn’s Jason Roberts.
West Londoner Roberts, who started out with Hayes, was out of the first-team picture at Blackburn earlier in the campaign and Rangers were hoping to capture him for next season.
But Roberts is back in the reckoning at Rovers, who are keen to keep him, and there are now Premier League clubs interested in the 30-year-old, making
Rangers’ quest to sign him even more difficult.
The signing of Martin Cranie on a six-month or season-long loan from Portsmouth should prove to be far more straightforward.
Cranie, who impressed before a broken leg ended his loan spell with the Rs last November, should be back on board for the start of pre-season training. Ealing Gazette