If you're QPR owner Tony Fernandes and you're trying to sign Marseille's Loic Remy, how do you convince a player to sign for a last-place club in January? Well, lots of money (QPR paid Marseille a club-record £8 million transfer fee and Remy is getting more than £70,000 a week, according to the BBC) and a relegation clause, of course. But apparently the icing on that relegation-proof money cake was a game of FIFA 12 with Fernandes himself.

From QPR's official website:

Fernandes spent over four hours persuading the 26 year-old that W12 was the right place for him to pursue his footballing career – and after the talks finished, the duo found time for a showdown on the world’s favourite football console game. “It was a special moment that followed our chat about QPR,” Remy told www.qpr.co.uk. “We just played a game of FIFA – it was good and showed to me what a good person Tony is. “He showed his human side to me as an owner of the club I wanted to join. It was a special moment for us both.” Playing as Bayern Munich, Remy triumphed 6-0 against Fernandes’s Argentina in game one, before the R’s Chairman fought back to claim a share of the spoils in an eight-goal thriller, only to lose on penalties.

First of all, I'm not sure why they played FIFA 12 instead of the current FIFA 13 (mayber Fernandes wishes it was still last year when he avoided relegation without buying a bunch of old and overpriced wastes of shirt numbers?), but that's what the site specified. Also, playing club v country is never right, especially when a Premier League contract is on the line. This is clearly the future of the sport, though. There will come a day when all top-level decisions in football are decided over games of FIFA. Or Mario Kart.