Les Ferdinand reveals work well underway ahead of summer transfer activity

QPR's Director of Football says due diligence being carried out on potential signings



QPR co-owner Tony Fernandes confirmed this week that he expects a lot of transfer activity to take place in the summer as the club continues to build for the future.Together with manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, QPR’s Director of Football Les Ferdinand is charged with the task of bringing players in who can help shape the future of the football club.And the former QPR striker has revealed the level of work that is taking place behind the scenes to give each acquisition the best possible chance of being a successful one.“Every signing is a gamble,” Ferdinand told. “It doesn’t matter what market you are shopping in, there is risk attached with every transfer.“But what we can do is reduce the level of that risk. We have got good scouts in place, and what we are constantly doing is carrying out our due diligence on potential signings.”Based in France, Steve Hitchen is the club’s European scout while David Magrone and Ian Butterworth work domestically.Meanwhile analyst Andy Belk has moved from first-team involvement to work full-time on the recruitment process. This is the first time the club have employed an analyst to work solely on transfer acquisition.“This demonstrates the importance we’re placing not only on player recruitment, but that process behind it,” Ferdinand said.“We are putting a system in place so we can look at, and identify, the best young talent coming up.





“I have read people saying we are just trying to sign League One players. That’s not the case. We are heavily governed by Financial Fair Play, which means those are the markets we have to look in now. What we are trying to do is attract players who want to advance their careers, and see QPR as a place where they can do that.

“We have signed players over the last two windows, and I have heard people questioning those signings, about whether they’re good enough.“We know that some of these players need work, need developing. That’s what we are looking to do with them, that’s the process. And we have a manager here who wants to go onto the training ground with his team of coaches and improve his players.“And having that full-time analyst in place means we can track players constantly. We know what bracket of players we’re looking at, what positions the manager wants, and our analyst spends his whole time updating the system, keeping it current.“We then look at those players and ask ourselves, ‘Are they right for Queens Park Rangers?’ in terms of ability, attitude and budget.“The harsh reality is not every single player we bring in is going to work out as we would want them to, but we will do all the groundwork we can to make sure we give ourselves the best possible chance of signing a player who is right for our football club.”

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