When will Premier League clubs learn to cut out the middle man?
Burnley and Wolves could have saved themselves some serious wedge by taking a punt on Rob Dickie last summer when the talented centre-half was still plying his trade in the third tier of English football with Oxford United.
Now, 11 months after joining Queens Park Rangers instead for a bargain £1.6 million, how much would Dickie cost these days? £10 million? £15 million?
We’ve seen Championship defenders go for £20 million in the past and QPR certainly won’t be bullied into selling the 25-year-old on the cheap.
Just last summer, during the height of football’s financial crisis, the west London club coaxed an eight-figure sum out of Crystal Palace when they came calling for Ebere Eze.
And if Dickie is to follow in Eze’s footsteps – The Mirror claims Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley have both expressed an interest – the Loftus Road Lucio will cost a darn sight more than the £1.6 million QPR stumped up last September.
Wolves and Burnley battle for QPR star Rob Dickie
A superb centre-half with the ice-cool composure of a prolific centre-forward, Dickie has scored in each of QPR’s three games in 2021/22, adding a trademark poacher’s finish to his growing collection in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Hull City.
Did we mention he made a dramatic goal-line block in the same game when the match still hung in the balance?
Blessed with a superb reading of the game, an excellent passing range and an impressive goalscoring record from centre-back, Dickie looks every inch a Premier League defender in the making.
The question is, will his top-flight debut come in the blue-and-white hoops of QPR?
Here’s what some QPR supporters on Twitter had to say about Wolves’ and Burnley’s interest in Dickie:
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