QPR chief executive Christian Nourry provides assessment of summer transfer business
Patience will be required before supporters see the best of Queens Park Rangers’ summer transfer business, according to chief executive Christian Nourry.
In what was Nourry’s first summer transfer window since taking up his current role, Rangers made nine first-team signings while also allowing 12 players to leave the club permanently.
After last week’s 2-1 win against Luton Town, head coach Marti Cifuentes said that the club ‘almost’ carried out his ideal plan for the window.
“I don’t know that I’ll ever be 100 per cent happy with a window because there are so many external factors that you can’t control,” said Nourry.
“We did a really great job together in April, identifying where we needed to improve the squad and in every single area we discussed achieving that to some extent.
“Most of the players we’ve signed this summer we had significant competition to sign, and we didn’t have as big a budget as some of those teams, and we perhaps were not in as big a league as some of those teams.
“But because of the quality of the vision we have, the work that Marti and Xavi [Calm, assistant head coach] have done and the work the recruitment department did to demonstrate to players that we understood their strengths and weaknesses in a level of detail that perhaps was not done before, in most if not all positions we were able to get target number one or number two on the list. So that’s very pleasing.
“It doesn’t mean it’s going to be an overnight or instant success. Obviously you would always like to do all your business in June, but the thing that’s pleasing is that where we foresaw things happening at a point in the window, they happened at that point of the window.
“There were certain opportunities that were not going to be possible in the middle of June but if X or Y happened they would break for us later in the window. I would say pretty much to the letter everything happened when we thought it would happen if we were going to get that target so it’s pleasing that we feel like we planned the window well.
“Between the wage savings this season and next season and outgoing transfer fees and the money we spent to bring players in, those numbers are very close. It’s not like we’ve gone on some sort of spending spree, I think on the contrary.”
Goalkeeper Paul Nardi is the only new addition over the age of 25, and Nourry highlighted bringing down the age of the Rangers squad as one of his main priorities heading into the window.
“This summer has been about trying to rebalance the squad in four ways,” he explained. “The first is trying to bring players in that are more suited to the style of football that we want to play.
“The second piece was a question of the average age of the squad. We had the second oldest average age for a starting 11 in the Championship last season. The reality is that we need to be able to bring in and play players that are ultimately going to grow with the football club or are going to move on and play somewhere else, hopefully at a profit.
“The third piece was depth. There were moments last season where the depth was concerning even though we had a phenomenal injury record – the best availability record in the top four divisions in English football last season. But that’s always challenging, even if you invest heavily in performance you can’t avoid freak injuries.
“The fourth and final piece is that every single player we sign this summer, from an analytics perspective and medical testing perspective, will fit into the top 50 percent of our squad in terms of athleticism and physicality once they adapt properly to English football.”
He added: “The attraction of this club – its history and its brand – for players that are in the UK and wider is perhaps more elevated than I would have thought. Perhaps that’s naivety on my side or a reminder to us of how proud we can be of the football club.
“It’s positive that this is a football club that can attract players when there were other clubs in the Championship who were not fighting a relegation battle [last season], that were fighting for the same player, and the player chose to come here.
“It’s also massive credit to our ownership for remaining steadfast and building a world-class training facility with the pull it now has for players that want to come and develop.
“We have to be clear and remain steadfast with our strategy. The clarity of that strategy was a real shot in the arm for us when we were going up against competition [for signings].
“I don’t want anybody thinking that in coming to QPR they have made it because I want QPR to be in a better place, therefore we haven’t made it. That’s an important mentality shift that we are going to need to continue to work on, and I think the signings that have come in believe they can go on to be international players or play in top five leagues and that’s what we want to see.”
Despite EFL clubs agreeing a lucrative new TV rights deal that is reported to be worth 50 per cent more than the previous arrangement over the next five seasons, Nourry said it did not have a material impact on the club’s summer transfer business.
QPR largely relied on recruiting players from abroad, with the only player signed from within the United Kingdom being deadline day loan addition Harrison Ashby from Newcastle United.
Nourry, who in his previous role with football consultancy group Retexo advised clubs across Europe on various strategic issues including transfers, explained it was an approach that made financial sense.
“I want the best possible players at the football club that I can afford,” he said. “If those players are English or Ecuadorian it doesn’t really matter to us in terms of where they are from.
“There is also a general reality across the Championship that more and more teams are looking further afield to sign players.
“Bottom line is that ultimately it does come with a financial premium to sign English players and given the current Financial Fair Play climate that we have to be sensitive to – and many other teams certainly will be this season as well – we went in that direction.
“In Kady [Dembele] and Liam [Morrison] you’ve got two players that have been exposed to English football even though they were in League One last season, and we think that you need a certain amount of Championship experience in the squad.
“It’s a new way of playing for some. We signed some players who’ve come out of tactical systems that are similar to how Marti wants to play, which is good, but others not so much. But we think some of their characteristics are well matched to that style of play and the reality of the Championship.
“We would like to take the approach that if you’re good enough, you’re good enough. Then it is our job to put you in the best possible position to succeed in terms of adapting and developing.”
Having seen Chris Willock leave the club on a free transfer at the end of last season, Nourry is keen to establish clarity with full-back Kenneth Paal over his future at Loftus Road.
Paal is the only QPR player to have played 90 minutes across all matches in league and cup so far this season, and he has entered the final 12 months of his current contract.
The Rangers chief added that conversations will continue with the Suriname international, while Nourry is also keen to ensure the long-term futures of Ilias Chair and Jake Clarke-Salter are in W12.
“I want to keep our best players at the football club where we can and where that’s possible,” he said.
“It’s very exciting to think about how Ilias can combine with some of the new attacking talents at the club. He’s had perhaps the first serious injury of his entire career with this challenge with his back, which he’s recovering well from.”
“Jake’s demonstrated over the course of the season that perhaps the quality of performance department elsewhere prevented him feeling totally confident with his body.
“But the notion that Jake Clarke-Salter is an injury-prone player is being challenged by the work he has done over the course of this season and last. He’s been truly phenomenal for us since I’ve been here and perhaps a little unsung over the course of that time.
“They are two very good players, two great people as well in terms of wanting to work and develop constantly. Ultimately I like them both and we’ll have to see.”
MAIN PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD