QPR look to offload unwanted players

QPR are set to step up efforts to offload their unwanted players and reduce the size of their huge squad.

Norwegian misfit Petter Vaagan Moen is looking for a new club having failed to make an impact since his move to Loftus Road.

And the likes of Martin Rowlands, Patrick Agyemang, Lee Cook, Bruno Perone, Dan Shittu, Rowan Vine and Gary Borrowdale will all cut their ties with Rangers before their contracts expire if a financial agreement can be reached.

“We’re near to the transfer window closing and these decisions have got to be made.”

Discussions took place with some of those players prior to Mark Hughes’ recent appointment and the new manager intends to make a fresh effort to pay them up and move them on.

Hughes said: “It was an option discussed with a number prior to me getting the job here. We’ll have to revisit those conversations and see if they’re appropriate now.”

But Hughes also admitted he had sympathy for the likes of Hogan Ephraim and Rob Hulse, who have endured a period of uncertainty since his arrival.

They were set to leave after being told they would not feature under Warnock, but Hughes put a temporary block on outgoing transfers in order to assess all of the squad he inherited.

Hughes has no plans to hand them a reprieve, with confirmation of their availability alerting a number of clubs.

Ephraim is set to move on.

Ephraim is a target for a couple of Championship sides and League One leaders Charlton, where he spent a spell on loan this season, while Hulse last year snubbed a loan move to Doncaster because his family now live in the south.

Clint Hill’s future is also in some doubt following the arrival of Nigerian left-back Taye Taiwo, while Bradley Orr has been made available to other clubs.

Hughes told West London Sport: “I’ve been really impressed by Bradley to be fair. But we’re near to the transfer window closing and these decisions have got to be made.

“There are players who had been told that maybe their future lay elsewhere prior to me coming in and they made plans – then all of a sudden there’s been a change [of manager].

“That put a few guys in two minds over whether or not they might have a future here.

“It’s been difficult because we’re right in the middle of a transfer window. Ideally you would give everybody a real crack of the whip.

“We’ve tried to get an understanding of what we’ve got in the building while at the same time try to win matches, and that’s been difficult.”

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