QPR unsure when Frey might return

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Marti Cifuentes says he is unsure when Michael Frey will be available again – and QPR are assessing a worrying injury suffered by Ilias Chair.

Striker Frey was in decent form prior to being sidelined and summer signing Zan Celar has failed to impress in his absence.

“He’s recovering from a calf injury and I cannot give you an accurate answer on when he will be back,” Cifuentes admitted.


Chair, who missed the early matches of the season with a back problem, picked up a knee injury during Rangers’ 4-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

Asked about the potential seriousness of Chair’s injury, head coach Cifuentes said: “We don’t know yet. He was in a lot of pain. I guess he will get some tests to know what kind of injury it is, but he has some pain in the knee.

“I will speak with the medical staff and know what the assessment is.”

Rangers, second from bottom of the Championship table and yet to win at home this season, have also been without Jake Clarke-Salter, Karamoko Dembele, Kenneth Paal, Morgan Fox, Jack Colback and Harrison Ashby.

Cifuentes said: “The reality is that we have a lot of injuries, unfortunately, and this is punishing us a lot because we are missing important players.

“But my job is to work with the guys that are available and try to get the best of all of them.

“All the teams in the league, when they have an injury crisis like we do at the moment, will suffer, and that’s the reality of where we are.”

With Frey out and Celar yet to score since arriving from Swiss club Lugano, QPR selling two strikers, Lyndon Dykes and Sinclair Armstrong, during the summer and bringing in just one appears to have been a costly move.

“The club has a clear (recruitment) model and then my job is to work with the players that we have,” Cifuentes said.

“I think Zan has proved in Switzerland that he is a striker that can score a lot of goals.

“We’re here to try to help him and make sure that he gets the goal chances that we are trying to create for him. And from there, time will see.”