QPR not finished with recruitment drive

QPR chairman Tony Fernandes said the club have not finished with the transfer market, saying more arrivals are heading to Loftus Road.

The west London outfit have already made six new recruits, including Park Ji-Sung and Andrew Johnson, and are looking to strengthen still further, having narrowly survived relegation last season.

And Fernandes is looking to make the most of his first full transfer window as chairman to ensure the same relegation battle does not take place in the next campaign.

“It is ironic, this time last year I had one week to do it all,” Fernandes told Sky Sports.

“Now I’ve had the best part of two months and I think a lot of great work was done.

“We have never said this before but the moment the Man City game was over, we started working.

“There was one night of celebration and then the guys started working on the squad. That is why we’ve hit the ground running, been able to make six signings and renew Adel (Taarabt’s contract),” the billionaire added.

Fernandes moved on to claim the club were not resting on their laurels and would still work to improve the squad, allowing the necessary time to gel ahead of the new season with pre-season training already underway.

He added: “It’s good as it gives Mark a lot of time to gel the squad as obviously there are a lot of new faces that haven’t played with each other.

“It is not going to be perfect to start off the season but we seem to be doing the right things there.

“Maybe two or three more signings are left and then we’re done – and, I think, done for a while actually because we would then have a good nucleus for a long time.”

While making the necessary signings to guarantee Premier League survival, the 48-year-old is also keen to improve the club’s academy and allow youngsters to progress to the first team.

Fernandes continued: “The work then has to start on the academy and bringing through kids, who started at QPR at 11 and go all the way up.

“That has been a poor end of QPR as we haven’t had many players progress from the academy to the club itself.”

Despite the imminent work on the club’s youth system, Fernandes believes experienced signings such as Ryan Nelson and Park will give Mark Hughes’ side a good balance once the new season starts.

“We’ve picked up a really good level of young players and good level of experience, which I think we lacked last season and Mark highlighted.

“Mark showed me graphs of how many games our players had in the Premier League and it really wasn’t a lot. It is the toughest league in the world and I think we have a good balance.”