QPR slammed for "shocking" 2016 transfer decision involving Charlie Austin | OneFootball

The Hoops sold Charlie Austin to Southampton for £4m after they had turned down a £12m bid from Leicester City not long before

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Queens Park Rangers' decision to let striker Charlie Austin leave for a reported fee of £4 million to Southampton in 2016 has been identified as one that still shocks their fans to this day, especially given a previous bid that the club had turned down.

Austin joined the Hoops in the summer of 2013 following an impressive few years in the second tier at Burnley, and became a cult hero at Loftus Road for his performances over the seasons to come.

Then 24 years of age, he netted 20 times in 37 appearances and helped fire QPR to promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs in his first season at the club, and carried on that exceptional form as he finished as the fourth-highest scorer in the top flight for the 2014/15 campaign with 18 goals, despite the club's relegation back to the second tier of English football.

His standout performances attracted the attention of other Premier League clubs that summer, but Leicester City had a reported bid of £12 million knocked back, and he instead stayed at QPR for another six months in the second-tier before he moved on to Southampton in January 2016 for just £4 million.

Fan pundit outlines QPR, Charlie Austin transfer decision as a shock

The Hoops could have made a lot of money on Austin if they had accepted Leicester's bid in the summer of 2015, but stood firm ahead of their return to the Championship - just to sell him on soon after for a lowly figure compared to what the Foxes had offered.

Austin continued to bag consistently in the six months he spent back in the second tier with the R's, and had certainly proven himself in the Premier League the season before, so FLW's resident QPR fan pundit, Louis Moir, identified him being sold for a cut-price figure when we asked him for a decision made by the club that still shocks him to this day.

Louis told Football League World: “One decision that the club made a few years ago was when we sold Charlie Austin to Southampton, at the time it was reported to be £4 million, and you look back and think - How on earth did we only get that for a proven goalscorer in the Premier League?

“It was so frustrating that we only managed to get that much because of the fact that, not so long before that, we actually rejected a £12 million bid from Leicester for him.

“We were probably in a position where we had to sell him, but still, you can't let a striker of that level leave the club for such a small fee.

“He was one of a few at a similar sort of time, like when we sold Luke Freeman as well, of players that we sold for such little money.

“If it was any other club, they would be getting a lot more.

“Charlie Austin to Southampton for £4 million is - I mean what a deal for them, but for us, that is shocking.

“It should have been a double-figure fee for him at that time.”

QPR should have sold Charlie Austin before they eventually did

It was understandable as to why the R's chiefs wanted to keep Austin in the second-tier, as it was obvious that he would score goals for them, but in hindsight, the decision not to sell him after relegation was a clear mistake.

He netted 10 goals in 17 games in the first half of the 2015/16 campaign for Harry Redknapp's side, but was unable to prevent their poor form that saw them stuck in the bottom half of the table come January, yet they actually improved and finished higher in May than they had been when he left, so it was not as if he was carrying the team that season.

Austin stated that he was "not going anywhere" in the January window before the turn of the year, yet a month later he had departed for that cut-price deal, with his contract up at Loftus Road in the same summer.

In hindsight, the club should have cashed in on him after relegation, and should not have been as demanding of what they wanted for his services, as it caused them a sizeable loss in income, and the extra money may have helped them somewhat with the financial struggles they went on to experience in the following years.