angers ought to have seriously tried to sabotage West Bromwich Albion's bid to sign Chris Mepham, a defender for Wales.
With the exception of a loan trip to Sunderland in 24/25, the 27-year-old had been at the Vitality Stadium since 2019 and had made 121 appearances for the team in all competitions before joining the Baggies.
Mepham is Ryan Mason's sixth summer acquisition, and it is estimated that the West Midlands paid about £1 million to acquire him.
Perhaps QPR should have taken notice of the centre-back, who played 40 games in the second division last season (including playoffs) and helped Sunderland advance to the Premier League.
Better center-backs are desperately needed by Queens Park Rangers.
QPR shipped in seven goals against Coventry City and gave up a staggering eleven league goals by the end of the third matchday. Not to mention giving up three goals against Plymouth Argyle of League One in the Carabao Cup.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the R's have lost all of their initial games without keeping a clean sheet, and it is obvious that their backline needs immediate repair.
Although Rhys-Norrington Davies has joined on loan from Sheffield United, he has never participated in more than 28 league games in a season; the last time he did so was with Barrow in the National League (18/19).
Although Steve Cook has been a dependable member of the West London team since joining from Nottingham Forest in 2023, there are significant doubts regarding his ability to play at the Championship level going forward.
Cook was out for several weeks in December of last season due to a Plantar Fascia (foot) injury, and his former manager Marti Cifuentes said that he wasn't sure if Cook would return to the team in April because he was still having trouble with it.
With the addition of Amadou Mbengue in the summer, the injury situation doesn't get much better.
The 23-year-old Frenchman has experienced his own setbacks, such as a knee ailment that lasted a month while he was at Reading.
Chris Mepham is Queens Park Rangers' best-kept secret.
Mepham won 185 duels, which is 75 more than Steve Cook, and was a member of a backline at Sunderland that finished the previous season with 17 clean sheets.
The small cost associated with Mepham's move to The Hawthorns is perhaps possibly the most annoying thing for QPR. In today's transfer market, the estimated £1 million fee is extremely low for a player of his calibre and age.
This cost is an absolute value, and Rangers should have taken advantage of the transfer when Bournemouth originally paid £12 million for his services from Brentford.
Naturally, Julien Stephan has spent a lot of money on attacking players this transfer window, but there's no reason he couldn't have also used some of their money to acquire good central defenders.
After Mike McGrath revealed that Derby County's bid for the 24-year-old Japanese winger was matched by QPR, and Richard Kone was reportedly purchased for approximately £3 million, Koki Saito rejoined the team.
In the end, these two acquisitions do suggest that a bid for Mepham might have been made. Although the Welshman was never formally connected to QPR, if the R's defensive problems continue, he could end up being a lost chance.
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