Beale closing in on more QPR signings

QPR head coach Mick Beale is hopeful some new faces will be able to join up with his squad in Germany as his side step up their pre-season preparations.

Beale has taken 28 players to a camp in Blankenhain, in the west of the country, and confirmed talks are ongoing with potential new recruits who could be drafted in while the team are away.

Beale admits his squad is still light going into the new campaign but is keen to give players who were out on loan last season, such as striker Macauley Bonne, the chance to prove themselves.

“We are constantly talking about that and while we are in Germany, or when we are back home, one or two new faces will come in,” Beale said.

“We are talking to one or two players and they are good players.

“But when you are talking to good players these things can take a bit more time.

“It might be that their club don’t want them to move on, or it might be that there is stuff going on with their contract.

“In all fairness, this summer has been fantastic in terms of players that want to come in and play for QPR.

“But we’re not Man City, so we have to duck and dive a little bit to make things work for us.”

Rangers have signed Tyler Roberts, Kenneth Paal and Jake Clarke-Salter since Beale’s arrival in May but parted with a number of squad players at the end of last season, including Yoann Barbet, Dom Ball, Andre Gray, Charlie Austin, Moses Odubajo, Sam McCallum and Lee Wallace.

Beale said he would love to replace all of those who left, but accepts he may not be in a position to do so.

“In terms of the transfer market, you’re like a kid in a candy shop,” he said.

“There’s all sorts of things that you have in your mind that you’d like to do. I think the three players that we’ve done so far are young with their best days in front of them, and I want to feed off that energy.

“There’s one or two key areas that we’re looking at, right-back being one of them, maybe another midfielder – a different type of midfielder that can play on two lines.

“Obviously we have Tyler that can play on two lines as well.”

After a behind-closed-doors friendly with non-League Uxbridge last week, Beale’s men faced League Two side Crawley on Saturday in a 3-3 draw that saw the largely second-string side that played in the second half squander a 3-0 lead in the final 20 minutes.

He admitted that performance had given him plenty of think about and said certain players need to up their game if they are to figure in his squad for the new season.

“What I have to do is assess the young players and assess the squad players and those who have come back in from on loan,” he said.

“They know that when we come back from Germany there will be some different conversations with one or two.

“But one or two of them have shown me they want to be here and have the quality to be here.

“When you change manager and change some of the beliefs and ideas in the way you want to play, it suits some players more than others and they jump up.

“But what we have is have a really competitive squad andm when all of our players are fit and available, I expect us to be extremely competitive this season.”