QPR Sign Vale, Esquerdinha and O’Brien and Keep Dunne

Deadline Day

Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax. Queens Park Rangers waited until 11pm to unveil their latest signing, teasing the announcement five minutes beforehand with a video of a blind about to be opened. But the ‘big reveal’ turned out to be Harvey Vale, the 21 year-old Chelsea academy product whose arrival has long been telegraphed. In fact, the only news about the attacking midfielder on Monday night is that he’s crocked – out for the rest of the season, apparently. So QPR’s big new signing won’t be available until 25/26. So much for Chelsea’s 21/22 academy player of the year contributing to our play-off push.

In other news, Jimmy Dunne has not been sold to Sheffield United, which is great, obviously. According to reports over the weekend, the Blades’ initial offer was rejected for being too low, with the R’s holding out for £3 million. Quite steep, given that he’s out of contract in the summer, but he’s an important player for us and we would have had to scramble to find a replacement at right back. Let’s hope he now signs a new contract.

Also announced on deadline day were Esquerdinha, an 18 year-old Brazilian left-back, and Archie O’Brien, a 17 year-old midfielder. Both will join our development squad, although Esquerdinha, who made his senior debut aged 16 with Fluminense, may see some first team football before season’s end, particularly if Kenneth Paal gets injured. Christian Nourry says: “He has demonstrated at youth level for Brazil, and in his limited minutes with Fluminense, that he has the potential to develop into an interesting talent in the context of our inverted full-back profile.”

If you add these three to our two loanees – Ronnie Edwards from Southampton and Yang Min-Hyeok from Tottenham – it hasn’t been a bad window. Hevertton Santos, our previous Brazilian signing, is the only player to leave the squad, having been loaned to Vitoria SC in Portugal, with the option of a permanent in the summer.

In his first interview for the club, Vale said he was attracted by QPR’s “footballing project”, which, presumably, is a plan to return to the top flight. But judging from today’s other signings, Cifuentes and Nourry are in no hurry to push for promotion, preferring the slow burn approach of Brentford, which involved bringing in young players, developing them, selling them, rinse, wash, repeat, until eventually the Bees were able to make a tilt at the premiership in 20/21, where they’ve remained. Brentford spent six years in the Championship and their owner, Matthew Benham, favours the same data-driven approach as Nourry. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the playbook our 26 year-old CEO is following – although it’s harder to identify under-valued players using Benham’s methods now, given that several other Championship clubs are using the same statistical models.

It seems like a smart strategy, if not as exciting as some fans would like. And after the disastrous start to our season, which raised questions about Nourry’s approach, the plan seems to be working. Bringing in Vale is a sign of Cifuentes’ and Nourry’s confidence in that they wouldn’t have bothered unless they expect to be here next season. I hope the owners have the patience to stick with them.