QPR squad ‘could do with 20 or 30 more players’, admits Hughes

QPR manager Mark Hughes has revealed he is still looking to add around 20 to 30 players to his squad before the transfer window closes on Friday.

Whilst being happy with deals for Andy Johnson, Ryan Nelsen, Rob Green, Samba Diakite, Fabio da Silva, Park Ji-Sung and Junior Hoilett, Hughes admits there are still some areas of the squad that need strengthening.

QPR kicked off their Premier League campaign in dismal fashion as they were hammered 5-0 at home by Swansea City on the opening day of the season.

And Hughes will be hoping for results to improve quickly, as he looks to acquire a wealth of experienced players near the end of their careers to sit out most games.

“We’re delighted with the signings we’ve managed to complete so far,” said the manager. “But there are a couple of areas where we may be looking to bring in five or six fresh faces.”

QPR attacking options

Hughes stressed the importance of improving the squad’s attacking options with currently only Bobby Zamora, DJ Campbell, Jay Bothroyd, Djibril Cisse, Jamie Mackie, Rob Hulse and now Andy Johnson available to him up front.

“We’re hopeful of bringing in maybe three or four strikers in if we can get them. But we will see. What we don’t want to do is rush into spending money on players who won’t have an impact on the squad.”

“We want players at this club who are hungry for success and willing to give their all to sitting on the bench as well as sitting in the stands or indeed outside of the stadium.”

Hughes continued: “Luckily we already have a great bunch of players who are willing to work tirelessly to be uninvolved in the majority of our games, so hopefully only a few minor tweaks are needed.”

“I think the squad could do with 20 or 30 players to come in before the transfer window closes. But we would be lucky if we were to achieve that, so we will have to wait and see what we can do between now and then.”

“Luckily, we will have Kieron Dyer fit in time to feature in his solitary game of the season, so that is almost like a new signing for us.”