Coach of London club opens up on transfers, admits West Brom-linked player could leave
Queens Park Rangers coach Neil Banfield has admitted that the Londoners will need to sell some of their better players if clubs such as West Brom place big-money bids.
The Baggies have been linked with a move for Bright Osayi-Samuel this season by the Express and Star, but instead closed a deal for Kamil Grosicki in January.
Slaven Bilic was said to be considering a move for the 21-year-old alongside Grosicki in the winter market, but no deal was finalised at the Hawthorns.
Banfield claimed that Rangers would love to get promoted to the Premier League with their better players, but they have to remain realistic.
“We’d love to get promoted and play with Ebs, Ilias and Brighty, but I think you’ve got to be realistic,” he told West London Sport.
“But the real world is that if a club comes in now with loads of money then those lads have got to go. It’s just a fact of life.”
Bilic will have been delighted with his business in January, with Grosicki and Callum Robinson adding to his options in the final third.
Robinson, in particular, has been superb at the Hawthorns. The 25-year-old has averaged 3.8 shots on goal as well as 1.8 key passes according to WhoScored – impressive.
Osayi-Samuel has been similarly impressive for QPR this season, scoring five and assisting seven goals at Loftus Road. The winger completes a superb 2.8 dribbles in each game, and is a constant threat down the wing, and could be easily tempted away from West London based on Banfield’s comments.
In other West Brom news, Player of the season scores 9/10 – West Brom player ratings for 19/20 campaign