QPR fell flat with £40k-per-week England legend signing - it was a waste of time | OneFootball

Rio Ferdinand signed for QPR on a free transfer in the summer of 2014, though it didn't go to plan.

Rio Ferdinand enjoyed an illustrious, trophy-laden career spanning 20 years for four different clubs at the highest level, yet his brief stint at Queens Park Rangers is largely forgotten, and understandably so.

Having come through the youth ranks at West Ham United, Rio Ferdinand went on to become one of the greatest defenders the Premier League, and the world, had ever seen.

Aside from a four-game loan spell in the second division with Bournemouth, Ferdinand spent his entire career in the English top flight, playing for the likes of West Ham, Leeds United, Manchester United and, most forgettably, QPR.

The former England international played in over 500 games in the Premier League, with it being with the West London outfit where he achieved his 500th appearance.

Though many will forget he spent a season at Loftus Road, and given the career he had prior to his switch to the R's, it's clear to see why that is the case.

Rio Ferdinand spent a solitary season as QPR player prior to his retirement from professional football

Following his release from Man United in 2014, where he had played just 14 times in the Premier League the previous season, Harry Redknapp's QPR decided to bring the then-35-year-old to West London on a one-year deal worth £40,000-per-week - per Capology.

Redknapp had handed Ferdinand his debut as a 16-year-old at West Ham, and many believed it was a full-circle moment where the 81-time-capped England international was destined to shine.

However, that's not what transpired.

Ferdinand made just 11 Premier League appearances for the R's as the club was ultimately relegated back to the Championship, where they have remained ever since.

The centre-back started the 14/15 season playing a key role for the R's, playing 90 minutes in each of the opening seven Premier League games, and even captained the side in a 2-1 defeat away at Southampton.

A series of bans and injuries kept Ferdinand out of the first team fold on numerous occasions, however, whilst the likes of Steven Caulker, Nedem Onouha and Richard Dunne were all at times preferred ahead of the former Premier League champion.

Factoring in his wages, Ferdinand cost QPR roughly 190k per appearance, which, although certainly was not their most expensive of costs that season, remained one that could have been avoided due to the little impact he had on the pitch.

It was hoped that his experience, success, quality and leadership qualities would prove to be a highly shrewd addition and major coup for QPR, but the England and Manchester United icon endured a miserable time at Loftus Road.

The Englishman retired at the end of that season and is now seen as a regular pundit on television, though many will always forget that brief stint he had at QPR.

Speaking on an edition of the Stick to Football podcast, Ferdinand admitted that he regretted having joined QPR, and not seen out his career with the Red Devils.

"I wish I had finished my career at Manchester United, rather than moving to QPR because it was the first time I had been in a changing room where people were talking about money and wages.

"You’d hear murmurings of players talking about it and I found it mad. We had players not wanting to train because they were on a certain amount of money, the intensity wasn’t that high, and for whatever Harry Redknapp was trying to do, the players weren’t buying into it, and that team ended up getting relegated.

“For me, I wanted one final season, playing in London, back home, my kids were of an age where they understood football a lot more, and then my wife got ill at the time and that compounded everything.

“I was getting injuries before I joined QPR but I did genuinely think that I would be fine and that I’d be able to get through it. I spoke with Harry Redknapp, who was QPR manager at the time, who said that he’d manage my minutes, that I didn’t need to train every day, and just make sure I was ready for every match, and I thought that I could do that easily, but that wasn’t the case.”

Rio Ferdinand's time in West London does not reflect the rest of his career

Although many will not remember Ferdinand for his time with QPR, it would do the former defender a great disservice to those that do.

Ferdinand had spent 12 years as a Man United player after his world-record £30 million fee from Leeds made him the most expensive defender in world football in 2002.

He would make over 450 appearances for the Red Devils, winning six Premier League titles, three English League Cups, four Community Shields and one Champions League and firmly cementing himself within the Premier League Hall of Fame.

If it wasn't for injuries, bans and England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008, then Ferdinand almost certainly would have reached over 100 caps for England, having fallen just nineteen short.

The Englishman is, and always will be, widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders that the game has ever produced, and his stint at QPR does absolutely nothing to change that fact.