Hall says he’s keen to stay at QPR
There’s a big summer ahead for QPR captain Grant Hall.
The defender’s contract is due to expire and his fiance is expecting their baby.
Hall, 28, is hoping for a new deal at Rangers.
But he admits the issue pales into insignificance during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
He said: “I’ve been at QPR for five years and love it, so my thoughts are that I’d like to stay.
“But with everything going on at the moment, there are a lot more important things.
“When the time’s right we’ll talk about it, but for the time being it’s on hold. There are much more important things.”
Mainstay of the QPR defence
Hall has come a long way since being signed by QPR in 2015 after being released by Tottenham.
Chris Ramsey, then Rangers manager and now technical director, knew him from his time at Spurs.
Ramsey thought highly of him but admitted at the time that Hall was brought in initially as a squad player and “not a mainstay centre-half”.
Hall in fact not only quickly became a first-team regular, he was the club’s player of the year.
However, he was later plagued by a persistent knee problem which kept him out of action for the best part of 16 months.
The same injury has ended the careers of other players, including former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
It took its toll on Hall, who has spoken about the mental health problems he faced amid fears he might not play again.
Tough time
It was hoped that Hall would avoid the need for surgery – not least because others had found there was no way back after an unsuccessful operation.
However, after several attempted comebacks failed, Hall had surgery in February 2018.
“It was talked about for a while but I wanted to be absolutely sure surgery was the right thing,” Hall explained.
“I was aware of other players who had similar problems, had the operation and weren’t able to play again.
“I had tendonitis in the knee, which was the same as Owen Hargreaves, and unfortunately he was unable to play again.
“So I wanted to make sure an operation was the right thing. I’d tried to play and the injury kept flaring up, so I decided to have the surgery.
“I’d kept trying to get back but the problem went on longer – and that’s when I spoke about mental health. It was a really tough time.”
Building confidence
Fortunately, Hall has been able to rebuild his career.
He has re-established himself in the QPR side, taken over as captain, and his 30 appearances so far this season is almost double the 17 he managed throughout the whole of last term.
Hall says he now has no problems with the knee at all.
“It took a bit of time to build up confidence in the knee again, to be honest,” he said.
“Like with any injury, you have your setbacks. But over time I felt stronger and the knee now feels fine.
“I never have any problems with the knee now. No pain – nothing.
“Obviously I have to manage it and keep an eye on things, but I’ve had no problems.”
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