Out of favour at Derby County, QPR should target Alex Pearce

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Queens Park Rangers need to bolster their defence before the loan window shuts.

Queens Park Rangers have suffered a torrid start to their Championship campaign, as four defeats from their opening four games including a 7-1 loss at West Bromwich Albion leaves them bottom of the table.

QPR boss Steve McClaren had his hands tied in the summer due to a transfer embargo, but now the club can loan players ahead of the August 31 deadline and Derby County’s Alex Pearce represents a fine option.

The Hoops have been dreadful in defence in their opening four games, conceding a whopping 13 goals with their latest defeat coming at home in a 3-0 drubbing by Bristol City which prompted anger amongst fans.

If McClaren is to survive in his job, he must focus on strengthening the back four and he would struggle to find a better option than one of his former players – Derby’s Pearce.

The 29-year-old has bags of experience having played over 200 games during a spell at Reading, helping the Royals to promotion in the 2011-12 campaign as he played every Championship game that season.

Pearce left Reading to join Derby in 2015, but over the past three years he has made just a handful of league starts and currently finds himself way down the pecking order at Pride Park.

Derby boss Frank Lampard has Richard Keogh, Curtis Davies, loanee Fikayo Tomori and the versatile Andre Wisdom for centre-back options, with Pearce out of the picture entirely.

The former Reading man’s contract with the Rams expires next summer, therefore Lampard may feel it’s in his best interests to get him off the wage bill now should a club come in for him before the upcoming deadline.

QPR are said to have made a loan-to-buy move for Liam Lindsay, according to the Daily Record, but surely Pearce would provide a cheaper option with the Barnsley man rated at £4 million.

Toni Leister has performed poorly this season in the heart of QPR’s defence and without a positive signing between now and the deadline, it’s hard to see McClaren surviving until January.