QPR and PSG fail to agree Taarabt deal

Adel Taarabt is staying at QPR, the club have announced.

A statement was issued on behalf of owners Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore after Rangers failed to agree a deal with French club Paris St Germain for the 22-year-old.

The statement also confirmed that Wales defender Danny Gabbidon, who has been on trial with the R’s, will be offered a contract.

“We are pleased to confirm that Adel Taarabt will be staying at QPR this summer,” the statement read.

“Despite receiving a substantial bid for our Moroccan international, we rebuffed all approaches and indeed, we are keen to build for the future in the Premier League, and not sell one of our prized assets.

“We are aware of some issues that have been raised in the press by the coach.”

“Should we have decided to sell Taarabt this summer, we made it clear to Neil Warnock that we would reinvest funds into the squad.

“Taarabt is fully committed to the club and is looking forward to proving his undoubted star-quality for QPR in the Premier League.

“Our decision not to sell him only serves to reiterate the ambition and commitment we have both shown to QPR since we arrived here.”

Taarabt has made no secret of his desire to move to a top club, but no Premier League managers have so far shown any interest.

Cash-rich PSG did make an approach soon after the end of last season, but their initial valuation was well short of Rangers’.

By the start of this week it seemed the two clubs were close to thrashing out a deal, but talks have since ended abruptly.

Manager Warnock, referred to as “the coach” in the statement, recently angered his bosses by publicly hinting at his frustration at missing out on some of his transfer targets.

He was given a warning, and has since been reluctant to comment on goings-on at Loftus Road.

This was alluded to in the owners’ statement, which added: “We have backed Neil Warnock in bringing in his two top targets, Jay Bothroyd and Kieron Dyer, and we are working hard to try and pursue a couple of other targets the coach has identified.

“Danny Gabbidon has impressed the coach whilst on trial and we are aiming to add him, as well as at least one or two other players to our squad in the near future.

“Neil Warnock is our coach and we are working closely with him in a professional and confidential manner to try to achieve our aims and objectives.

“The coach’s job is to coach the squad and identify players he believes will improve the squad. As a board, we deal with all the negotiations and we have been successful in completing deals for Bothroyd and Dyer so far.

“We are aware of some issues that have been raised in the press by the coach, but we have discussed these with him internally and he has agreed to be more reserved in terms of what he discusses in the future.”