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- Transfer Deadline Day: Presumably Samba and Crouch will be completed today and some others. But time will
- QPR's London Call In Tonight
- Next: Norwich - Past Results/Old Photos/Played-for-Both-Teams
- Seven Year Flashback: Ian Holloway's Final Home Game in Charge: Leicester - Match Report
- 12 Years ago: Gerry Francis on QPR "In Crisis" ...On The Field: Langley and Carlisle are Injured Playing Fulham...35 Years Ago Today: QPR 6 West Ham 1
- Three Year Flashback: "Red Nose" Protest at Loftus Road against Flavio Briatore - as a Plummeting QPR Slump at home to Scunthorpe
- Fulham Debt Free!
- Reminder: QPR Fan Forum, February 7
-Parliamentary Report on Football Governance
- Reminder: QPR Fan Forum, February 7
-Parliamentary Report on Football Governance
BBC
Christopher Samba: QPR set to sign £12.5m defender
Christopher Samba is set to complete a £12.5m move to QPR from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.
It is understood the ex-Blackburn defender, 28, will receive £100,000-a-week, including bonuses and add-ons.
QPR's 26 signings since May 2011
The centre-back used his own Twitter account on Thursday to state that he was in London.
QPR manager Harry Redknapp is also pressing ahead with plans to sign Stoke striker Peter Crouch.
Anzhi head coach Guus Hiddink admitted he was disappointed to lose Samba.
"It's not a very good situation," Hiddink told Russian newspaper Sport Express.
"Samba was with us during this season, began preparations for the winter training camps and suddenly this opportunity arose with an English club. Yesterday [Tuesday] he left for England. Unfortunately, we didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to him. Everything has developed very quickly."
Samba left England in February 2012 when Anzhi agreed to pay Blackburn £12m, amid interest from Tottenham, Redknapp's former club.
With Ryan Nelsen set to leave Loftus Road to manage Toronto FC, and Anton Ferdinand moving to Turkish club Bursaspor on loan, QPR have been desperate to sign an authoritative central defender with Premier League experience. BBC
TELEGRAPH - John Percy and Paul Kelso QPR ready to splash £20m on transfer deadline day in battle for Premier League survival The Queens Park Rangers chairman, Tony Fernandes, is ready to gamble £20million on securing the club’s Premier League status, tabling bids for Christopher Samba and Peter Crouch which he hopes to finalise on deadline day. The lavish spending on two players who can expect to be paid £70,000 a week for a role in Queens Park Rangers' relegation battle was authorised on a hectic day for the club, who also finalised the signing of South Korean full-back Yun Suk-Young from Chunnam Dragons. Stoke City were on Wednesday night anticipating a bid in the region of £6million for Crouch, who can expect to see his wages rise from around £50,000 a week should he join Redknapp for the fifth time in his career. The striker, 32 on Wednesday, is tempted by the prospect of resuming his relationship with Redknapp, for whom he played at Portsmouth, Tottenham and Southampton. Stoke rejected an earlier bid of £3million plus Jamie Mackie but expect QPR to return with an improved offer. Should Crouch go, manager Tony Pulis will seek to replace him with Darren Bent, out of favour at Aston Villa and subjected to a fresh humiliation on Tuesday night when he was substituted at half-time in the 2-1 defeat by Newcastle. QPR’s boldest move was a £12.5million bid for Samba, enough to trigger the release clause in the centre-half’s contract with Anzhi Makhachkala. Samba has been at the Russian side since leaving Blackburn Rovers, earning £100,000 a week under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink. It is understood he will have to take a pay cut to around £70,000 to join Rangers. Samba flew in on Wednesday and travelled to London for talks over personal terms. A deal seems certain, however, with Hiddink accepting that the player would not return. Hiddink said: “It’s a shame to talk about this but he didn’t even say goodbye, he didn’t explain anything to us. Whatever happens to you, you should take into account the people with whom you work. "It’s not a great situation for us. He started the pre-season camps with us but then suddenly in the last few days he started to make contact with England, that’s despite still being on contract with Anzhi.” Redknapp is relying on the Samba deal to bolster his defensive options after allowing Anton Ferdinand to join the Turkish side Bursaspor on loan, and seeing Ryan Nelsen leave the club to become coach of Toronto FC. Speaking after seeing his side held champions Manchester City to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday night, Redknapp said: “I’ve always taken Crouchy wherever I’ve been: Southampton, Portsmouth, Tottenham . . . I love him. Whether Stoke would sell him, I don’t know. "Samba is a player you’d love to have, and the chairman’s working on several options. I’ve given him a list of players and he’s trying to get one or two for us.” Redknapp believes he needs three or four new signings to give the squad a chance of avoiding relegation, having already added the French striker Loïc Rémy. Yun, 22, made his full South Korea debut last October in a World Cup qualifier against Iran and impressed during the Olympic tournament. QPR overcame interest from Liverpool and Fulham, and now he has been granted a work permit he will be eligible to play for Rangers once his visa is processed. Pulis, meanwhile, is preparing for the potential summer sale of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic with a late move for Birmingham’s England international Jack Butland. The Stoke manager is set to make a £3million bid on Thursday but faces competition from Fulham, who are understood to have offered £4million, and Southampton. Stoke view the teenage goalkeeper as a long-term replacement for Begovic, who is rated at around £12million and has been watched frequently by Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal this season. Begovic could leave at the end of the season if Stoke receive a suitable offer so Pulis is planning to buy Butland and then loan him back to Birmingham for the remainder of the campaign. Even if Begovic stays, Stoke are happy to loan out Butland to a Premier League club next season to give him experience. Stoke are also set to sign Brek Shea, the versatile United States international, from FC Dallas for around £2million and may take the Bolton Wanderers left-back Marcos Alonso on loan for the rest of the season. Alonso, 22, is out of contract in the summer and could solve Stoke’s hunt for a left-back after they abandoned their attempt to sign PSV Eindhoven’s Erik Pieters. Pulis said: “We could certainly do with freshening the place up and bringing a few players in. We have 30 points with 14 games to go but pressure wise, this is probably the greatest I’ve been under in respect of myself.” TELEGRAPH http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal....e-survival.html | ||
GUARDIAN - DAVID HYTNER
QPR's Harry Redknapp to make deadline day raid for Tottenham trio
• Manager goes in for Bentley, Jenas and Townsend
• Christopher Samba and Peter Crouch also in his sights
• Christopher Samba and Peter Crouch also in his sights
Harry Redknapp is primed to make a startling raid on his former club Tottenham Hotspur to sign David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend as he battles to keep Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League.
The Loftus Road manager has said that his club will be doomed if they cannot beat Thursday night's transfer cut-off to bolster the squad and he also hopes to complete the signing of the Anzhi Makhachkala central defender Christopher Samba for a club record fee. It is the potential purchase of the Tottenham trio, though, that promises to be a major plotline of deadline day.
Bentley's deal expires in the summer of 2014 and Jenas's at the end of this season and Redknapp effectively wants to take over their contracts. Townsend, the young winger, is wanted on loan until the end of the campaign.
The capture of Bentley, in particular, would raise eyebrows, given that Redknapp expressed his frustration with the some-time England winger when they worked together at Tottenham. He could not find a place for him in the team and he sent him on loan to Birmingham City and West Ham. There was also the infamous incident when Bentley drenched Redknapp with water in the boisterous celebrations after Tottenham qualified for the Champions League in 2010, which did not go down well.
Redknapp, though, has always appreciated Bentley's creative talent. The 28-year-old, who joined Tottenham from Blackburn Rovers for £15m in 2008, has just returned from a loan at FC Rostov in Russia and Jenas is back from a loan at Nottingham Forest.
Samba left Anzhi's winter training camp in Marbella on Tuesday without bidding farewell to his team-mates and flew to London, with the Russian club's manager, Guus Hiddink, confirming he expected the deal to go through before the cut-off. QPR have triggered a clause in the 28-year-old's £100,000-a-week contract, thought to be set at £12.5m, with the centre-half keen to return to England.
"It's not a very good situation," said Hiddink. "Samba was with us during this season, began preparations for the winter training camps and suddenly this opportunity arose with an English club. He left for England on Tuesday. Unfortunately we didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to him. He didn't explain anything to us. Everything has developed very quickly." Almost by way of consolation, Anzhi expect to sign the Brazilian winger Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk for around £29m.
Samba would join Yun Suk-young at Loftus Road after the South Korea left-back was granted international clearance and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract. Another defensive target, the Portuguese centre-half Rolando, is expected to complete a six-month loan move to Napoli from Porto, and the Rangers chairman, Tony Fernandes, has seen a second, improved bid for the Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland rejected. The Craven Cottage club hope to retain their captain until the end of the season. QPR are expected to resume talks with Stoke City over the purchase of Peter Crouch, who has played under Redknapp at Southampton, Tottenham and Portsmouth, though the clubs are some distance apart over a fee for the 32-year-old.
There will be further departures, too, from Loftus Road with the forward DJ Campbell likely to join Hull City in the Championship and Alejandro Faurlín talking to Palermo over a loan move until the end of the seasoN GUARDIAN
FOOTBALL ITALIA
Agent: 'Faurlin wanted Palermo'
By Football Italia staff
Alejandro Faurlin “strongly wanted” a loan transfer to Palermo, declared the agent of the QPR midfielder. “He’d be ready to play on Sunday.”
“I can confirm that in the next few hours Faurlin will become a Palermo player,” agent Lucas Cominelli told PalermoNews.it.
“Today an agreement was reached with QPR for his transfer on loan with option to buy. Tomorrow we will arrive in Milan for the medical and he will sign the contract with his new club.
“Alejandro feels joy and liberation after the situation got through an impasse, as QPR had seemed to be resisting against the move. Alejandro had no doubts.
“Alejandro had no doubts in his choice and strongly wanted Palermo. His desire is to give the club support so they can achieve safety, doing everything he can to convince the directors to buy him outright at the end of the season.
“Director Pietro Lo Monaco already wanted him when he was at Catania, but the conditions never arose to make it happen. The player was wanted by other clubs, but Palermo were decisive.”
Agent Cominelli also reassured Palermo over Faurlin’s fitness and suitability for Serie A.
“He is a technical midfielder, capable of making his quality felt in the middle of the park. The comparison with Andrea Pirlo seems an exaggeration, as we are talking about a player from a different planet, even if Alejandro does make vision one of his key characteristics.
“This season he has played 15 out of 25 games with QPR. Lately there has been less room due to the delicate situation of the English club, but he’d be ready to play on Sunday.”
Think you know your Italian football? Share your knowledge, tips and comments to win cash prizes in OLBG's tipster competition £5,000 monthly. FOOTBALL ITALIA
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A QPR REPORT PERSPECTIVE - CLUB RESPONSE AWAITED
The Club and its "Associations"
An ongoing matter of continued "regret" to at least this blogger: That Queen's Park Rangers FC continue to provide a forum on its Official Match Day broadcast show to "QBlockPete" - Pete Davies.
Ultimately, obviously the owners and senior management of Queen's Park Rangers Football determine who they want to employ or utilize. But equally, QPR supporters - quite a few of whom have been supporting QPR a lot longer than any of the current QPR owners, employees, or "Associates" - retain the freedom to express their views (whether supportive or critical) and concerns on matters pertaining to QPR.
If you want to express any views on this matter either privately or publicly, pm me on the QPR Report Messageboard or email at qprreport@hotmail.com