_____________________________________________________
West London Sport - Remy completes medical and is joining QPR
Harry Redknapp has
confirmed Marseille striker Loic Remy has passed a medical and will sign
for QPR – and that they are on the verge of capturing Rennes midfielder
Yann M’Vila.
Rangers boss Redknapp, who wanted both
players while Tottenham manager, is set to capture the pair for a
combined outlay of around £15m.
Speaking after Tuesday night’s FA Cup victory at West Brom, Redknapp explained: “Remy had a medical today and the personal stuff is all sorted.
“I watched him so many times when I was at Tottenham. The fee they wanted then was £20m, so he’s a good buy for us.”
M’Vila was recently reported to have
turned Rangers down, but negotiations have been ongoing for some time
and at the weekend Redknapp made his second visit to France to see him.
Arsenal have previously watched
M’Vila, who has played for France 22 times but is banned from the
national team until July 2014 after breaking a curfew to visit a
nightclub ahead of an Under-21 game.
“M’Vila’s had a few off-the-field
problems, but if he behaves himself, and plays the way we know he can,
he’ll do well,” Redknapp added.
QPR were recently given permission to hold talks with Remy, as were Newcastle, after Marseille agreed to sell him.
Remy, 26, initially declined to even
meet with Redknapp – prompting reports he was heading for Newcastle –
but the R’s remained hopeful he would be persuaded to accept their
lucrative offer rather than move to Tyneside.
Meanwhile, Rangers are yet to make
improved offers for West Brom’s Jonas Olsson and Peter Odemwingie but
plan to do so in the next 48 hours.
Albion turned down previous bids for
the duo. Forward Odemwingie is keen to make the move, while Fulham and
West Ham are interested in defender Olsson and are both monitoring the
situation. West London Sport
MAIL - RALPH ELLIS
Use us as stepping stone to Manchester United! How Harry convinced M'Vila to join QPR
Harry Redknapp convinced Yann M'Vila to join Queens Park Rangers by telling him it was the quickest route to Manchester United.
Hoops boss Redknapp expects to complete the £7million deal in time for the 22-year-old midfielder to play at West Ham on Saturday.
But asked how he had persuaded one of Europe's most sought after young talents to leave Rennes and join a relegation fight, he said: 'I just made him feel he was wanted, that is the key.
'I told him that he would come here and be a good player, and if he does well, if we stay up, in 18 months he could get a move to Manchester United, or Arsenal, or Chelsea, if that is what he is looking for.
'In the meantime he could come here and we put him on the stage and show what he can do.
'If we can build a team then hopefully he will stay with us. If not he will put himself on the stage for bigger things.'
On the up: Harry Redknapp saw QPR beat West Brom in the FA Cup on Tuesday
On the up: Harry Redknapp saw QPR beat West Brom in the FA Cup on Tuesday
M'Vila has 22 caps for France and was part of their Euro 2012 squad but he is serving a two-year ban from international duty after he and four other players in the Under 21 squad went on an unauthorised night out in November.
Redknapp said: 'He is a top, proper footballer. He can play. He controls the game, he can pass the ball, he is strong.
'He's had a few problems off the field but he is only young. If he behaves himself and comes and plays for us as he is able to then he will be a great asset.' Mail
GUARDIAN - Loïc Rémy
What now for Newcastle and Alan Pardew after Rémy takes French leave?
Magpies' latest attempt to recruit from across the Channel has backfired, leaving the manager desperate to land a striker as well as a wise old-head
After seeing his QPR team lose at Newcastle only last month, Harry Redknapp launched into a rant against overpaid footballers and the game's skewed economics. "St James' Park holds 52,000 but Loftus Road holds 18,000. You shouldn't be playing players massive wages when you only have 18,000 seats," said the new Rangers manager as he pledged not to "screw over" the owners by "overpaying" any more "average" players.
Fast forward a few weeks and the man who might have been England coach is preparing to welcome Loïc Rémy to QPR from Marseille after staging a successful, last-minute ambush of the France striker's move to Newcastle. Newcastle had agreed an £8m fee with Marseille and Rémy had told friends – Joey Barton included – that his move to Alan Pardew's team was all but done and dusted but then, when airport check-in staff labelled his luggage as he departed France, they printed out stickers with LHR for London Heathrow rather than NCL for Newcastle.
A late change of planes and plan prefaced by calls from his agent signalled that a basic wage of around £75,000 a week at QPR – quite possibly approaching double Newcastle's offer – and a guaranteed departure from Loftus Road for a minimal transfer fee in the summer should Redknapp's side be relegated, had turned Rémy's head.
In what constituted a major blow for Pardew, arrangements for a medical followed by an "unveiling" in Newcastle were placed on tentative hold, then cancelled. Only time will tell whether Rémy will rescue QPR from relegation thereby justifying the high-stakes gamble Redknapp has clearly persuaded Tony Fernandes, the QPR owner, to risk yet more money on. "It was a choice between money and footballing ambition," said a Newcastle source.
While Pardew's team are on an awful run and by no means safe from relegation themselves, that comment is no exaggeration. Rémy had a choice of running out in front of 52,000 fans every home game at a club who finished fifth in the Premier League last season and are still in this season's Europa League or joining one that attracts much smaller attendances and is facing a more serious battle to stay in the top flight.
Perhaps, then, it was not such a bad thing for Newcastle and Pardew as they struggle to find a successor to Demba Ba capable of gelling with Papiss Cissé. Ba may have had a suspect left knee – and it was interesting to hear Rafael Benítez say this week that concerns over its condition dictate that Ba will be rotated – but the Senegal striker rarely stopped scoring.
In contrast Rémy has scored only one goal for Marseille this season, after being used largely as a substitute. Although he scored 12 times for the French club last season and 15 times the one before that, it appears that a fall-out with the club's management did little for either his fitness or final touch. After such a poor autumn and early winter, can he really hit the ground running in west London?
That said, Newcastle's scouting system, led by Graham Carr, has proved consistently strong. Pardew's recent problems have been largely about the extreme slenderness of a squad ravaged by injuries to players including Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa.
The overwhelming odds are that Ba's successor – not to mention one or two much-needed defensive reinforcements – will be found in France but the presence of seven French-speaking players – five of whom could be described as first choices – in Pardew's first-team squad is starting to cause some disquiet among fans. Suddenly St James' Park season ticket holders are worried about dressing-room cliques and the absence of the much-vaunted "British core" even Arsène Wenger now seems keen on restoring to Arsenal.
Nagging worries about suggestions of fault lines developing between Newcastle's French and Spanish speakers, and the sense that locals boys such as Shola Ameobi and Steven Taylor an in peril of becoming an endangered species, will hold little sway, though. Finance dictates that Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, will remain unmoved. Pardew likes James Tomkins, the young West Ham centre-half, but he would cost £10m and an equivalent defender could be purchased for a third of the price and smaller salary in France.
It is for this reason that Derek Llambias and other key Newcastle figures have adopted the W hotel in Paris as a base for entertaining the representatives of potential new signings aged 26 and under – experience is much less important to Ashley than a decent sell-on value – and why last Saturday a headline in l'Equipe read "France: A discount supermarket for Newcastle United".
A charm offensive which has seen French media representatives welcomed warmly to Tyneside, where Newcastle's press team even greet them with "Bonjours", and imported players offered every available assistance including specially cooked meals in the training ground canteen has paid off. Newcastle's stock is high in France, with the team's performances shown on weekly TV, along with those of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
The problem is that many of those displays this season have been so poor that French players now appear to be having second thoughts about their agents being charmed at a Paris hotel. And if that is not the case, their club's boards of directors suddenly feel determined not to be treated like a discount supermarket for Ashley and his team of bargain hunters.
It seems that the Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be Pardew's new target but St Etienne are displaying an enthusiasm for playing hardball. Perhaps Aubameyang will be told he can return to France for medical treatment if he gets injured. Ben Arfa is Newcastle's best player and a sometimes tricky personality, but the fact he is spending several weeks undergoing rehabilitation at Clairefontaine, near Paris, rather than under the auspices of Newcastle's own highly skilled medical team begs all sorts of questions.
At a time when Fabricio Coloccini, the club captain, has announced that personal difficulties have made him determined to depart for Argentina as soon as possible – something Pardew is endeavouring to talk him out of – maybe the moment is right to make an exception to the broadly sensible policy of buying under-26s.
As Steven Gerrard told my colleague Andy Hunter last week, he and Liverpool benefited immeasurably from playing alongside the ageing but still acute Gary McAllister a few years ago.
Newcastle clearly need at least one new striker and at least one new defender but Pardew, you suspect, is also crying out for an experienced old head who can provide on-field nous and off-field clout. Frank Lampard would clearly be too expensive but Newcastle really could do with making that sort of signing.
Pardew has done a very good job but right now what he arguably most requires is a McAllister to help him raise the bar. Meanwhile, only time will tell whether Rémy is the answer to Redknapp's prayers. Guardian
What now for Newcastle and Alan Pardew after Rémy takes French leave?
Magpies' latest attempt to recruit from across the Channel has backfired, leaving the manager desperate to land a striker as well as a wise old-head
After seeing his QPR team lose at Newcastle only last month, Harry Redknapp launched into a rant against overpaid footballers and the game's skewed economics. "St James' Park holds 52,000 but Loftus Road holds 18,000. You shouldn't be playing players massive wages when you only have 18,000 seats," said the new Rangers manager as he pledged not to "screw over" the owners by "overpaying" any more "average" players.
Fast forward a few weeks and the man who might have been England coach is preparing to welcome Loïc Rémy to QPR from Marseille after staging a successful, last-minute ambush of the France striker's move to Newcastle. Newcastle had agreed an £8m fee with Marseille and Rémy had told friends – Joey Barton included – that his move to Alan Pardew's team was all but done and dusted but then, when airport check-in staff labelled his luggage as he departed France, they printed out stickers with LHR for London Heathrow rather than NCL for Newcastle.
A late change of planes and plan prefaced by calls from his agent signalled that a basic wage of around £75,000 a week at QPR – quite possibly approaching double Newcastle's offer – and a guaranteed departure from Loftus Road for a minimal transfer fee in the summer should Redknapp's side be relegated, had turned Rémy's head.
In what constituted a major blow for Pardew, arrangements for a medical followed by an "unveiling" in Newcastle were placed on tentative hold, then cancelled. Only time will tell whether Rémy will rescue QPR from relegation thereby justifying the high-stakes gamble Redknapp has clearly persuaded Tony Fernandes, the QPR owner, to risk yet more money on. "It was a choice between money and footballing ambition," said a Newcastle source.
While Pardew's team are on an awful run and by no means safe from relegation themselves, that comment is no exaggeration. Rémy had a choice of running out in front of 52,000 fans every home game at a club who finished fifth in the Premier League last season and are still in this season's Europa League or joining one that attracts much smaller attendances and is facing a more serious battle to stay in the top flight.
Perhaps, then, it was not such a bad thing for Newcastle and Pardew as they struggle to find a successor to Demba Ba capable of gelling with Papiss Cissé. Ba may have had a suspect left knee – and it was interesting to hear Rafael Benítez say this week that concerns over its condition dictate that Ba will be rotated – but the Senegal striker rarely stopped scoring.
In contrast Rémy has scored only one goal for Marseille this season, after being used largely as a substitute. Although he scored 12 times for the French club last season and 15 times the one before that, it appears that a fall-out with the club's management did little for either his fitness or final touch. After such a poor autumn and early winter, can he really hit the ground running in west London?
That said, Newcastle's scouting system, led by Graham Carr, has proved consistently strong. Pardew's recent problems have been largely about the extreme slenderness of a squad ravaged by injuries to players including Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa.
The overwhelming odds are that Ba's successor – not to mention one or two much-needed defensive reinforcements – will be found in France but the presence of seven French-speaking players – five of whom could be described as first choices – in Pardew's first-team squad is starting to cause some disquiet among fans. Suddenly St James' Park season ticket holders are worried about dressing-room cliques and the absence of the much-vaunted "British core" even Arsène Wenger now seems keen on restoring to Arsenal.
Nagging worries about suggestions of fault lines developing between Newcastle's French and Spanish speakers, and the sense that locals boys such as Shola Ameobi and Steven Taylor an in peril of becoming an endangered species, will hold little sway, though. Finance dictates that Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, will remain unmoved. Pardew likes James Tomkins, the young West Ham centre-half, but he would cost £10m and an equivalent defender could be purchased for a third of the price and smaller salary in France.
It is for this reason that Derek Llambias and other key Newcastle figures have adopted the W hotel in Paris as a base for entertaining the representatives of potential new signings aged 26 and under – experience is much less important to Ashley than a decent sell-on value – and why last Saturday a headline in l'Equipe read "France: A discount supermarket for Newcastle United".
A charm offensive which has seen French media representatives welcomed warmly to Tyneside, where Newcastle's press team even greet them with "Bonjours", and imported players offered every available assistance including specially cooked meals in the training ground canteen has paid off. Newcastle's stock is high in France, with the team's performances shown on weekly TV, along with those of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
The problem is that many of those displays this season have been so poor that French players now appear to be having second thoughts about their agents being charmed at a Paris hotel. And if that is not the case, their club's boards of directors suddenly feel determined not to be treated like a discount supermarket for Ashley and his team of bargain hunters.
It seems that the Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be Pardew's new target but St Etienne are displaying an enthusiasm for playing hardball. Perhaps Aubameyang will be told he can return to France for medical treatment if he gets injured. Ben Arfa is Newcastle's best player and a sometimes tricky personality, but the fact he is spending several weeks undergoing rehabilitation at Clairefontaine, near Paris, rather than under the auspices of Newcastle's own highly skilled medical team begs all sorts of questions.
At a time when Fabricio Coloccini, the club captain, has announced that personal difficulties have made him determined to depart for Argentina as soon as possible – something Pardew is endeavouring to talk him out of – maybe the moment is right to make an exception to the broadly sensible policy of buying under-26s.
As Steven Gerrard told my colleague Andy Hunter last week, he and Liverpool benefited immeasurably from playing alongside the ageing but still acute Gary McAllister a few years ago.
Newcastle clearly need at least one new striker and at least one new defender but Pardew, you suspect, is also crying out for an experienced old head who can provide on-field nous and off-field clout. Frank Lampard would clearly be too expensive but Newcastle really could do with making that sort of signing.
Pardew has done a very good job but right now what he arguably most requires is a McAllister to help him raise the bar. Meanwhile, only time will tell whether Rémy is the answer to Redknapp's prayers. Guardian
Rob Hughes/New York Times
Queens Park Takes a Huge Risk for a Huge Payoff
Published: January 15, 2013
LONDON — The January sales around European soccer resemble the scene inside a high-rolling casino, but with human chips, instead of plastic ones, thrown at the spinning wheel.
Loïc Rémy will leave Marseille for Queens Park Rangers, currently at the bottom of the English Premier League standings.
Goal
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Go to the Goal Blog
Two weeks go by. The big gamblers eye one another without making their big play. Then desperation spurs one club to go for broke.
On Monday night, the London club Queens Park Rangers, owned by a Malaysian airline entrepreneur and with input from one of India’s richest families, was in negotiations with at least four players.
The Rangers’ new team manager, that old wheeler-dealer Harry Redknapp, was flying the Channel between England and France. On Sunday, he was bidding to buy the powerful Rennes midfield man, Yann M’Vila. On Monday, Rangers was hijacking what was thought to have been a done deal between Olympique de Marseille and Newcastle United for the striker Loïc Rémy.
By Tuesday, he was in the English Midlands, where Q.P.R. had an F.A. Cup replay against West Bromwich Albion and where Redknapp was hoping to persuade two from West Brom — winger Peter Odemwingie and the towering defender Jonas Olsson — to switch teams.
A few days before all of this, Redknapp was blandly denying that he had any irons in the fire. “We’ve tried a few things, but I don’t know what’s happening in the market,” he said. “That’s down to the chief executive.”
And that’s Harry. The 65-year-old East Londoner comes to life in the January market. He is known as Houdini Harry for his expertise at guiding teams as they save themselves in relegation dogfights, but to do that, he first has to persuade club owners to speculate and spend on the players he feels can “do the business.” It is hair-raising stuff. Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian business high flier who is Rangers’ chief shareholder, fired the team’s coach, Mark Hughes, to give his job to Redknapp a month before Christmas.
The team, already expensive, was scraping along at the bottom of the Premier League. It still is, but a victory at Chelsea and a draw last Saturday against Redknapp’s former team, Tottenham Hotspur, gave a glimmer of hope that the forlorn bunch of misfits at Q.P.R. were responding to the new manager’s motivation.
But how does it do it? The bulk of Redknapp’s talking around players is to tell them he sees greatness in their shoes. They have it in them, if only they would work at it, to be world beaters, never mind just survivors in the big league.
Whether he believes it does not matter; what matters is that they do.
Meantime, he persuades the owners — Fernandes and the family of Lakshmi Mittal — that the talent on their payroll is simply not good enough. They must throw more chips, millions more, at the wheel or they are lost.
And it’s a gamble worth making, because last summer the English Premier League hugely increased its income when new television deals were signed. For the three seasons starting this coming September, after a new televisions partner, BT, chipped in £738 million, or $1.19 billion, and Sky and ESPN increased their existing contracts, there will be more than double the money on the table for the 20 teams that share out the Premiership pool.
The deals now are worth a combined package in excess of £3 billion. The pot keeps rising, in spite of economic conditions.
England has the game the world wants to watch on television, and staying in that league of 20 is the difference between high finance and potential ruin.
The owners know it. The players know it. The agents who move those players around flock to it like bees to nectar. And of course, clubs in other leagues, lesser leagues in financial terms, succumb to it.
Marseille’s sporting director, effectively its deal maker José Anigo, said on French television on Monday: “Loïc Rémy is somewhere in England. We at O.M. reached agreement with Newcastle, but we also talked with other English clubs
The price, thought to be about £8 million, was agreed on last weekend. But Q.P.R. could not only match that transfer fee to Marseille, it is rumored to be doubling the offer of £40,000 per week that Newcastle put on the table for Rémy.
Goal
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Go to the Goal Blog
But why, reporters asked, would a French international take the gamble of joining a team marooned at the bottom of the standings? Simple: His agent negotiates an out clause. He will play his heart out for the Rangers between now and May, but if it is not enough, if the club goes down, he gets to leave for the next highest bidder.
There are huge questions in all of this. Will Rémy, a striker who blows hot and cold in his native France, adapt at once to the English league? Will he link up with Q.P.R.’s gifted, but erratic, Moroccan playmaker, Adel Taarabt? Ditto M’Vila, who is admired for his midfield force but was once called a loose cannon by his coach at Rennes, and who was banned from the French national team after partying while on duty with the squad.
Many clubs have looked covetously at both Rémy and M’Vila. They have scoured the backgrounds that took M’vila, the son of a Congo player, from Picardy, near Amiens, France, to Stade Rennes.
Rémy, too, was lifted by his skills with a ball after starting off life in Lyon. His talent was honed at the academy of the local club, Olympique Lyonnais, and it later took him to Marseille, which took a chance on him after discovering in a medical examination before the deal that he had a heart abnormality.
Now, subject to similar medical processes that accompany all soccer transfers at this level, M’Vila and Rémy are expected to join the dogfight with Q.P.R.
So, if the money is right, might Odemwingie and Olsson.
Odemwingie was born in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan; opted to represent Nigeria at the international level; and married in England. Olsson is Swedish, loves to play the guitar and intends to resume his studies to be a human rights lawyer when he finishes playing.
It is quite a midseason gamble on players who have caught the eye of Q.P.R.’s Mr. Houdini. New York Times
QPR OFFICIAL SITE - REDKNAPP: ‘WINNING A GOOD HABIT’
Gaffer speaks after third-round replay win
HARRY Redknapp laid praise to his side after QPR booked their
place in the fourth round of the FA Cup following a 1-0 victory at West
Bromwich Albion.
Jay Bothroyd’s 76th-minute
winner was the difference in Rangers’ third-round replay at The
Hawthorns, as the R’s also registered a third consecutive clean sheet in
the process.
Speaking to www.qpr.co.uk, a delighted Redknapp said: “It was tough. The first half was a bit dour.
“Rob Green made a fantastic save in the first half and then a number of others when he came under pressure after we scored.
“That’s three clean sheets in a row, which is encouraging. We’re picking up some good results now and some clean sheets.
“We’re
getting the best out of the team at the minute. There are areas that
I’d like to improve on, but I can’t fault the effort of the players.”
Redknapp
– who confirmed January additions to his squad are imminent – also
praised the efforts of goalscorer Bothroyd, who struck after recently
returning from a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday.
“Jay
Bothroyd did well tonight,” Redknapp added. “He was at Sheffield
Wednesday but he didn’t do very well and they sent him back. I put him
out there and asked him to show what he can do.
“The
league is the most important thing. That is the key for us. You’ve got
to try and stay up. The rewards for doing so are so big.
“But winning is a good habit. We’ve won twice away from home now after not doing so for over a year.” QPR
West Bromwich Albion Official Site
Clarke: It was a game too far
PUBLISHED
23:25 15th January 2013
And boss says switching off at set-play led to Baggies' harsh FA Cup exit
STEVE Clarke has described tonight’s harsh 1-0 FA Cup third-round defeat by QPR as a game too far for his injury-hit squad.
But
the Baggies boss admitted his men paid the penalty for switching off at
the corner that Jay Bothroyd headed Rangers’ 76th-minute winner from.
Albion
dominated the majority of the Hawthorns replay – their seventh game in
just over three weeks – but they could not find a way past England
international Rob Green.
“It is disappointing,” said Clarke.
“It’s a competition we wanted to stay in as long as possible.
“I think on the night we had the better chances and Rob Green made a few decent saves.
“We went to sleep on a set-play and you get punished for that at this level.
“We tried hard.
“The squad has been stretched in recent weeks and the boys that have gone in have done their best.
“They’ve tried hard, they’ve worked.
“Maybe the little bit of luck we were carrying a few weeks ago has deserted us a little bit.
“But all we can do is knuckle down and get on with it.”
The Baggies boss made four changes to the starting XI that lost 3-2 in Saturday’s Barclays Premier League defeat at Reading.
Two
were enforced as he felt he could not risk playing Jonas Olsson for a
second time in four days after just returning from injury, while skipper
Chris Brunt was ruled out due to illness.
“I couldn’t risk Jonas after he’d been out for so long by playing him in two games in such a short space of time,” Clarke added.
“We have other important games coming up.
“Chris Brunt has the flu.
“The
squad has really been stretched to the limit over the last six weeks
and we’re not quite getting the breaks we need at the moment.
“But as a group we know what we’re trying to do.
“It’s a long season and we’re going to have moments when things don’t go particular well for us.
“This is one of those moments.
“But we just have to dig in, work hard, and what better game to try and turn it around in than Aston Villa at the weekend.
“I don’t think the players showed a big hangover from the weekend.
“We had good control for the majority of the game and created the better chances.
“We played some decent stuff without really having a spark.
“It was a game without a spark.
"It couldn’t have been a great spectacle on a cold night.
“If there was any team trying to push to win it, it was us, and we got done by falling asleep on a set play.
“Otherwise I think we’d still be playing.” WBA
West London Sport
West Brom 0 QPR 1
Jay Bothroyd scored the winner
to take QPR into the FA Cup fourth round and continue their excellent
recent run under Harry Redknapp.
The out-of-favour striker headed home Alejando Faurlin’s corner with 15 minutes remaining.
Earlier, Rangers keeper Robert Green produced a fine save to keep out Romelu Lukaku’s header.
And after Bothroyd broke the deadlock in what had been a listless replay, Green twice denied Markus Rosenburg.
The R’s – unbeaten in 2013 – face a fourth-round clash with MK Dons, who beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 in their replay.
QPR: Green,
Onuoha, Hill, Ferdinand, Ben Haim, Mackie, Park (Taarabt 90), Derry,
Faurlin, Bothroyd (Mbia 81), Cisse (Wright-Phillips 45).
Subs not used: Murphy, Ephraim, Ehmer, Hulse. West London Sport
Subs not used: Murphy, Ephraim, Ehmer, Hulse. West London Sport
Guardian - Jay Bothroyd brings QPR victory at West Bromwich Albion in FA Cup
| West Bromwich Albion 0 | |
|---|---|
| QPR 1 |
|
The future is starting to look much brighter for Queens Park
Rangers. After picking up four points from two Premier League games
against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Redknapp watched his
resurgent side progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup,
courtesy of Jay Bothroyd's header, before confirming that the club had
completed the signing of Loïc Rémy from Marseille for £8m and were close
to announcing a £7m deal for the Rennes midfielder Yann M'Vila.
Rémy, who was a target for Newcastle United, passed a medical after agreeing personal terms and is expected to make his debut at West Ham United on Saturday. The deal with M'Vila is also at an advanced stage and, although a medical has yet to take place, Redknapp spoke as if it were a formality that the highly rated 22-year-old would sign. The arrival of two France internationals, for a combined £15m, represents quite a coup for QPR and is a major statement of intent in their battle to pull clear from the foot of the table and avoid relegation.
Redknapp, who praised the QPR chairman and owner, Tony Fernandes, for his backing in the transfer market, suggested there would be at least two more new faces arriving before the window closes. He is confident that an agreement will be reached with Tottenham to allow the central midfielder Jake Livermore to join on loan for the remainder of the season and said there were other "irons in the fire".
Rémy, who has 17 international caps, should provide QPR with a reliable a goal threat and will pave the way for Djibril Cissé, who was withdrawn at half-time here, to depart. "Rémy's OK, he's had a medical today, no problems," Redknapp said. "I watched him so many times when I was at Tottenham and tried to sign him last year. I went over to France to meet him and he was a player who looked like he might come to Tottenham at one time – the fee then was around about £20m. He's a good buy for us at the money we've paid.
"He's quick, makes great runs, he's a French international and his movement is excellent. He's got the potential to be a real outstanding striker. I didn't think we'd get him.
"I gave up really. The chairman did it, not me. I went over to Marseille last week and [Rémy] wasn't keen. I did speak to him about a couple of the players we were looking to bring in and I think he was excited about that. And then the chairman really worked ever so hard. Tony Fernandes wouldn't give up on it."
M'Vila, who has been courted by leading clubs in the Premier League, is also a player Redknapp tried to bring to Spurs. "Hopefully it will be done. We've met him and the deal looks OK," said Redknapp, who claimed that he was unaware whether the players had exit clauses in their contracts should QPR get relegated.
"M'Vila played against England at Wembley, when France beat England two seasons ago and was fantastic. They turned down £28m for him from an English club just under a year ago. He's a proper footballer, he can play, control the game, pass the ball, he's strong.
"He's had a few problems off the field but he's only 22. If he behaves himself and he comes and plays as he can, he'll be a great investment for the club. Spurs offered £15m for him in August and that got turned down."
Redknapp suggested that QPR would not be pursing their interest in Peter Odemwingie and Jonas Olsson, which was just about the only good news for Albion at the end of a bitterly cold evening when only 11,184 turned up to watch a dismal match where entertainment was in short supply. Steve Clarke, the Albion manager, was being polite when he described it as "a game without a spark".
Bothroyd belatedly brought the match to life when he marked his first QPR start of the season – he was loaned to Sheffield Wednesday during the first half of the campaign – with a towering header, in the 75th minute, from Alejandro Faurlín's corner to secure a fourth-round home tie against Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday week.
Albion rallied in the closing stages but were unable to find a way past the excellent Robert Green. The QPR goalkeeper had made a superb one-handed stop to deny Romelu Lukaku in the first half and produced further fine saves to thwart Markus Rosenberg and Graham Dorrans as Albion pressed for the equalised that never came.
"It was disappointing," said Clarke, whose side have won two out of their past 11 matches. "We went to sleep on a set play and you get punished for that at this level." GUardian
Rémy, who was a target for Newcastle United, passed a medical after agreeing personal terms and is expected to make his debut at West Ham United on Saturday. The deal with M'Vila is also at an advanced stage and, although a medical has yet to take place, Redknapp spoke as if it were a formality that the highly rated 22-year-old would sign. The arrival of two France internationals, for a combined £15m, represents quite a coup for QPR and is a major statement of intent in their battle to pull clear from the foot of the table and avoid relegation.
Redknapp, who praised the QPR chairman and owner, Tony Fernandes, for his backing in the transfer market, suggested there would be at least two more new faces arriving before the window closes. He is confident that an agreement will be reached with Tottenham to allow the central midfielder Jake Livermore to join on loan for the remainder of the season and said there were other "irons in the fire".
Rémy, who has 17 international caps, should provide QPR with a reliable a goal threat and will pave the way for Djibril Cissé, who was withdrawn at half-time here, to depart. "Rémy's OK, he's had a medical today, no problems," Redknapp said. "I watched him so many times when I was at Tottenham and tried to sign him last year. I went over to France to meet him and he was a player who looked like he might come to Tottenham at one time – the fee then was around about £20m. He's a good buy for us at the money we've paid.
"He's quick, makes great runs, he's a French international and his movement is excellent. He's got the potential to be a real outstanding striker. I didn't think we'd get him.
"I gave up really. The chairman did it, not me. I went over to Marseille last week and [Rémy] wasn't keen. I did speak to him about a couple of the players we were looking to bring in and I think he was excited about that. And then the chairman really worked ever so hard. Tony Fernandes wouldn't give up on it."
M'Vila, who has been courted by leading clubs in the Premier League, is also a player Redknapp tried to bring to Spurs. "Hopefully it will be done. We've met him and the deal looks OK," said Redknapp, who claimed that he was unaware whether the players had exit clauses in their contracts should QPR get relegated.
"M'Vila played against England at Wembley, when France beat England two seasons ago and was fantastic. They turned down £28m for him from an English club just under a year ago. He's a proper footballer, he can play, control the game, pass the ball, he's strong.
"He's had a few problems off the field but he's only 22. If he behaves himself and he comes and plays as he can, he'll be a great investment for the club. Spurs offered £15m for him in August and that got turned down."
Redknapp suggested that QPR would not be pursing their interest in Peter Odemwingie and Jonas Olsson, which was just about the only good news for Albion at the end of a bitterly cold evening when only 11,184 turned up to watch a dismal match where entertainment was in short supply. Steve Clarke, the Albion manager, was being polite when he described it as "a game without a spark".
Bothroyd belatedly brought the match to life when he marked his first QPR start of the season – he was loaned to Sheffield Wednesday during the first half of the campaign – with a towering header, in the 75th minute, from Alejandro Faurlín's corner to secure a fourth-round home tie against Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday week.
Albion rallied in the closing stages but were unable to find a way past the excellent Robert Green. The QPR goalkeeper had made a superb one-handed stop to deny Romelu Lukaku in the first half and produced further fine saves to thwart Markus Rosenberg and Graham Dorrans as Albion pressed for the equalised that never came.
"It was disappointing," said Clarke, whose side have won two out of their past 11 matches. "We went to sleep on a set play and you get punished for that at this level." GUardian
- QPR's Remaining 16 GAMES (With 14 Points after 22 game...Needed about 25 more Points)
