Warnock refutes Jelavic link

QPR boss Neil Warnock has refused to buy into claims the Premier League club are in talks with Rangers’ target man Nikica Jelavic.

The Scottish Premier League’s top scorer has bagged 12 goals in 18 matches this season for the league leaders, prompting rumours the 10-million-pound-rated Croatian has caught the eye of Warnock.

“Well you can’t believe everything you read, can you? Sometimes I haven’t even heard of the players I’m quoted with,” Warnock said, responding to reports a QPR scout was seen at Rangers’ match with Inverness at Ibrox on Saturday.

“I am aware of him (Nikica Jelavic), only because Stuart McCall, my man, one of my good pals, is at Motherwell so I talk to him about all sorts.”

“I’m not aware of any offer or aware of showing any interest in him, he is just one of a number of players that has been mentioned to me, not the other way round.”

The cashed-up London club have made a reasonable start to life in the Premier League where they are currently 15th, but are averaging under a goal a game with veteran Heidar Helguson, DJ Campbell, Jamie Mackie and Jay Bothroyd the only strikers on their books.

A number of top flight English clubs are said to be tracking the 26-year-old including Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland.

Warnock was scheduled to attend a QPR board meeting on Monday.

“The best business is always done in the summer, so I don’t want us to pay stupid prices in January,” he told the London Evening Standard.

Meanwhile, Warnock is looking to QPR to bounce back at home to Sunderland on Wednesday.

However, he knows there is a long battle ahead, and said: “Apart from the top seven or eight, the rest of us are all in the same boat. Everyone else will be looking over their shoulders for the next few months.”