Queens Park Rangers missed out on a Championship play-off place after a disastrous run of form but where would the Super Hoops be right now if they’d kept the likes of Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and Ebere Eze at Loftus Road?
What could’ve been for Queens Park Rangers?
Tom Heaton
One of four England internationals in this team of ‘what might’ve beens’, veteran goalkeeper Heaton spent the briefest of loan spells at Loftus Road all the way back in 2009, beaten by a Salomon Kalou goal in a narrow Carling Cup defeat to West London neighbours Chelsea in what was one of his two appearances.
Now 36, Heaton is back where it all began, re-joining Manchester United after spells at Burnley and Aston Villa.
Kyle Walker
Part of the Queens Park Rangers side who dominated the Championship under Neil Warnock over a decade ago, Walker played 20 games on loan in England’s second tier shortly before exploding onto the scene with a flurry of lung-busting runs at parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
A World Cup semi-finalist and three-time Premier League champion, Walker became the most expensive defender in football history when he joined Manchester City for an eye-watering £50 million.
Darnell Furlong
2021/22 has not been a stellar campaign for Furlong, or the club where he plies his trade. But if Steve Bruce can get the best out of the versatile 26-year-old next term, West Brom will have one of the EFL’s most talented defenders at their disposal.
A QPR academy graduate, Furlong held his own in the Premier League 12 months ago for a Baggies side who invested £1.5 million in him.
Steven Caulker
After a difficult couple of years on and off the pitch, Caulker is getting his once promising career back on track in Turkey. The former Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton man is currently on loan at Gazientep from Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
Caulker arguably played the best and most consistent football of his nomadic career at QPR.
Jordan Zemura
The youngest player on this list at just 22, few would have imagined the Lambeth-born Zimbabwe international would play such a remarkable role in Bournemouth’s return to the promised land under Scott Parker.
The lively left-back is one of the EFL’s breakthrough stars for 2021/22. Zemura has even mustered three goals from his defensive role.
Dani Parejo
While Queens Park Rangers were sliding down the Championship table, Dani Parejo was pulling the strings for a Villarreal side following up their shock victory over Juventus by sending Bayern Munich spiralling out of the Champions League.
One of the most underrated midfielders of his generation, the Valencia legend has come a long way since that 14-game stint at Rangers in 2008. Parejo has four caps for Spain and won the Europa League last season.
Josh Laurent
Now strutting his stuff for another club wearing blue-and-white Hoops, Reading’s midfield maestro is likely to be a man in very high demand. His contract at the cash-strapped club expires in July after all.
Laurent, like Zemura, rose through the ranks at QPR. He never made a senior appearance before making his name elsewhere in the Football League however.
Ebere Eze
It was obvious right from the very start that Eze was a footballer of rare talent. Queens Park Rangers fans were desperate to keep their balletic number ten at Loftus Road for another season. But it would’ve been unfair to deny this big fish the chance to swim in a much larger pond.
Making up for lost time after an injury-hit 2021, would anyone be surprised if the Crystal Palace whizzkid followed Walker and co into the England set-up ahead of the Qatar World Cup?
According to The Sun, Eze will cost £45 million these days.
Josh Bowler
That Everton were willing to pay up to £4 million for Bowler – when he was still a teenager – spoke volumes. And while the quicksilver winger might have failed to make the grade at Goodison Park, his mesmerising performances at Blackpool paint the picture of a man desperate to show the Toffees what they’re missing.
One of the Championship’s most exhilarating forwards, Bowler has scored a career-best eight goals this season.
Raheem Sterling
Sterling is one of those players everyone had heard of long before he’d even made his senior debut. Manchester City’s £49 million superstar, Sterling was just 15 years of age when Liverpool fought off competition from many a Premier League rival, luring one of the most talented English footballers of his generation away from QPR in 2010.
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Will Keane
The former Man United prospect will be joining Queens Park Rangers in the Championship next season. And, at 29, a striker who failed to find the net in ten games during a forgettable loan stint with the Super Hoops is perhaps Wigan Athletic’s best hope of avoiding an immediate return to the second tier.
Keane fought off Sunderland’s Ross Stewart to secure the League One Golden Boot. He’s scoring 27 goals in all competitions for the newly-crowned Latics.
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