QPR chairman Tony Fernandes is ‘optimistic’ Loic Remy will remain a Hoops player this season.

After spending last season on loan at Newcastle, the France international had been expected to move on permanently this summer.

But he is still on the books at Loftus Road after a proposed move to Liverpool fell through at the last minute, and Fernandes is hoping it stays that way.

Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, the west London club’s Malaysian owner said: “It is Liverpool’s loss and our gain.

“I have a special relationship with Remy from playing FIFA with him and I hope to continue playing FIFA 15 with him throughout the season!

“Nothing is ever cast in stone in football, but I am moderately optimistic Remy will be wearing the Hoops’ shirt throughout this season.”

Rangers, promoted via the Championship play-offs last season, mark their Premier League return by welcoming Hull City to Loftus Road on the opening day of the season on Saturday.

Fernandes admits QPR’s last experience of the top-flight was an ‘unmitigated disaster’, but he insists they have learned the lessons of the 2012/13 campaign, when they were relegated despite spending huge sums on big-name players.

Jordon Mutch, Steven Caulker and Rio Ferdinand have arrived at Loftus Road this summer, and Fernandes feels, unlike last time, Harry Redknapp has the right type of characters in his squad for the club to survive.

“We didn’t go enough research [ahead of the 2012/13 season],” he conceded. “We just looked at the player, looked at his experience and assumed he had the right character, assumed he would gel with other people, assumed he would put in 100 per cent, and obviously it was an unmitigated disaster.

“This time we have really looked at the character. We have looked at whether the character will work with other players, we have looked at whether the player will add value to our squad, or be a passenger.

“If you look at the transfers brought in, I think we have done a pretty good job. Time will tell, obviously, but we think we have been smarter in what we have done this time around.”