New QPR boss Mark Hughes has began the rebuilding process at Loftus Road.
The Hoops board have backed the former-Fulham boss to keep the club in the Premier League by handing him a big transfer kitty.
Signings
Hughes has completed the signing of Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha for a fee in the region of £4million. The defender is highly-rated but was frozen out in Manchester due to City’s big spending on so-called stars.
Onuoha is a very versatile player who can play at centre-back and right-back. He is big and strong, just the sort of defender QPR need to shore up their leaky backline. At 25 he’s just entering the peak of his career.
Rangers have also already signed talented left-back Taye Taiwo on-loan from AC Milan. The 26 year-old has struggled for first team football in Milan but before that was attracting interest from some of Europe’s top clubs.
Defence
QPR’s trouble this season has been at the back, as the Rangers defenders haven’t looked good enough for the top flight. Mark Hughes has obviously came in and saw where the problems lay and acted quickly to correct them. I can see more defenders arriving at Loftus Road before the transfer window shuts.
Harsh
When the club sacked Neil Warnock I thought it was slightly harsh. I am sure that given the same amount of money Warnock would have corrected the problems in the teams defence. However the QPR board obviously didn’t have faith in the former-Sheffield United boss.
Warnock was never given major money to spend by Premier League standards but by contrast Hughes has been guaranteed millions to spend to strengthen his squad.
Decent
Mark Hughes has decent track records at mid-bottom half of the table teams like Fulham and Blackburn. He guided both clubs to positions in the top ten of the Premier League, despite not having huge resources available to him.
Hughes also did a decent job at Manchester City before the City owners decided he wasn’t high-profile enough to take the club where they wanted them to go. Hughes is highly-regarded by his coaching peers and generally within the football world.
Time
Mark Hughes will need time to stamp his mark on the club. QPR are likely to have a lot of new players who will also need to settle in at a new club and in Taiwo’s case a new country. I just hope the QPR board are patient with Mark Hughes and let him do his job.
Survival
QPR find themselves just two points away from the drop zone but have halted a run of games without a win, with two wins from their last two games. QPR didn’t exactly have a poor squad before this transfer window but even Neil Warnock had stated he needed to sign four or five players to stay up.
Mark Hughes has heeded his words and has set about strengthening his squad. With the existing players and new signings set to come in Hughes will have a decent squad of players by the time the transfer window shuts.
Hughes arrival and the fact that he has been able to bring a host of new players should be enough to ensure that Rangers stay in the top flight for another season. However in football you just never know what will happen.
Will QPR stay in the Premier League this season?
