Wright-Phillips and Ferdinand sign for QPR

QPR have sealed the capture of England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee and have signed Anton Ferdinand from Sunderland for £1.25m.

Rangers believe they also completed the signing of forward Jason Puncheon from Southampton before the 11pm transfer deadline.

Wright-Phillips, 29, has signed a three-year contract at Loftus Road, where he will be reunited with his former City team-mate Joey Barton.

The former Chelsea man returns to west London after falling out of favour at Eastlands, where he established himself as a fans’ favourite during two spells with the club.

Ferdinand, the 26-year-old brother of England star Rio, has also agreed a three-year deal.

The defender was surplus to requirements at Sunderland, where his contract was due to expire at the end of the season.

Born in Peckham, he returns to the capital after three years with the Black Cats, who signed him from West Ham for around £8m.

He has Premier League experience, having spent the second half of last term on loan at Blackpool.

While with MK Dons, Puncheon was a target for the then QPR manager Ian Holloway, who has since signed him for both Plymouth and Blackpool.

Ferdinand and Puncheon dashed to complete their moves after their new club had spent deadline day hoping to make at least three signings.

As has been the case for the last three seasons, Rangers’ transfer hopes largely depended on which of Tottenham’s fringe players were made available.

And when Spurs boss Harry Redknapp made a move to sign centre-back Gary Cahill from Bolton, QPR believed they would get Cameroon international Sebastien Bassong on loan until January with a view to a permanent move.

But they were left disappointed when Tottenham were unable to close a deal for Cahill and subsequently told Rangers they were not prepared to let Bassong go.

The R’s were also unable to strike a deal with Redknapp for Peter Crouch, who signed for Stoke after his proposed return to his former club stalled.

They began the day on course to re-sign the England striker as they were closer to an agreement than Sunderland, who were also interested, while Stoke had declared themselves out of the race to sign him.

That left QPR in a strong position to cut a deal with Spurs – until Stoke made a fresh approach and had an offer accepted.

Neil Warnock, who spoke to Craig Bellamy’s agent before the Wales striker secured a return to Liverpool, was keen to recruit at least one centre-back and had the option of signing Ferdinand, as a deal to buy him was put in place well before the deadline.

The Hoops boss waited to discover if Bassong would be available and whether Birmingham would part with Liam Ridgewell in light of Scott Dann’s departure from the Midlands club, who made an approach for Ben Turner.

When Turner left Coventry for Cardiff rather than Birmingham, it was clear that Ridgewell, who handed in a transfer request earlier this week in an attempt to force a move, was out of Warnock’s reach.

Warnock also knew he had the option of signing Puncheon, who agreed terms some time ago and on Wednesday evening received the call to head to W12 and put pen to paper.

There were also outgoings, with Peter Ramage rejoining Crystal Palace on loan until January, and teenage striker Antonio German leaving the club after having his contract terminated by mutual consent.

Rangers have also signed 17-year-old Italian goalkeeper Tommaso Trani, who was formerly on AC Milan’s books.