Ian Holloway rules out deals for reported QPR targets; they would’ve been ideal

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The QPR boss has endured a frustrating January and Luke Freeman and Fraizer Campbell will not be arriving at Loftus Road.

It didn’t take Ian Holloway long to realise that QPR needed to rejuvenate their squad in the January transfer window. Since his appointment almost two months ago, Tjaronn Chery and Sebastian Polter have already been shipped out of Loftus Road with long-serving midfielder Karl Henry cast aside.

However, as reported by West London Sport, QPR have had rather more difficulty adding replacements to the ranks.

So far, Kazenga Lua Lua has arrived on loan from Brighton while Sean Goss (below) is likely to sign on the dotted line from Manchester United but a deal for Bristol City winger Luke Freeman now appears dead in the water.

The former Arsenal youngster will be out-of-contract in the summer but QPR’s attempts to sign him on the cheap have failed despite Robins boss Lee Johnson dropping him from the squad recently as speculation over his future intensified.

And Holloway has slammed the conduct of the Bristol City bosses, admitting that Freeman will not be posing in blue and white by the end of the month.

“I think [the Freeman deal is] gone. We had a chance to do something and they didn’t want our offer,” Holloway told West London Sport.

“If you’re letting your players run out of contract and you’ve only got six months to go then that’s your fault, not anybody else’s.

“[Bristol City have] said all sorts of things and their manager has made statements about it.

“If you’ve turned down an offer from someone, why do you have to go out and talk about it? It don’t make sense.”

However, this does not mean an agreement will not be reached in time for next season. Freeman’s deal expires in June, meaning he can sign a pre-contract agreement before moving to Loftus Road in the summer.

And you get the feeling Holloway would be feeling rather smug if he could pull that off.

Furthermore, the Bristolian boss has also ruled out any potential move for Crystal Palace striker Fraizer Campbell.

“Absolutely no chance. Not in a million years will Palace let him go,” Holloway told West London Sport. “And would he come to us? Absolutely not. Could we afford his wages? Totally not.”

Campbell is hardly the most prolific of strikers but, with two of QPR’s top three goalscorers departing this month, the hard-working 29-year-old could have come in quite useful.