QPR will be fearing the worst after post-Charlton news - Julien Stephan should've seen it coming | OneFootball

Tariq Lamptey's injury issues have crept up on him again, just a month into his QPR tenure

QPR weren't able to return to winning ways against Charlton Athletic on Wednesday, with the two fast-starters playing out a 0-0 draw at the Valley in an all-London affair.

Just one point in the last two against Middlesbrough and the Addicks shouldn't dim the shine on what has otherwise been a very strong start to Julien Stephan's second campaign in charge at Loftus Road.

While a win could have seen the R's top the table heading into the weekend, sitting fourth after six games is a big achievement for a side who have breached the top 10 once in the 11 seasons they've been in the division since their last relegation from the Premier League.

It is a marathon, not a sprint, though, and with 40 games left, there'll be some hope that, if the squad can stay fit, QPR will have the quality to make an outside run at the play-offs.

Julien Stephan dealt a double QPR injury blow against Charlton Athletic — one involving Tariq Lamptey

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"If the squad stays fit" is the big ultimatum for a successful campaign for QPR this year, though.

The Hoops had issues in goal last season, but they were paired with some long-term injuries to key players across the campaign. Now, the goalkeeper issue is sorted with the loan arrival of Pierce Charles and the signing of Calum Ward, but the injuries are persisting, it seems.

Julien Stephan has lost arguably five starting players in the past week, to compile what has been a winless couple of games.

Richard Kone, Ilias Chair and Koki Saito all picked up knocks last weekend against Middlesbrough, and both Jimmy Dunne and Tariq Lamptey were forced off either side of the half through injury at the Valley.

It's a nightmare scenario for the Hoops boss and one that, in Lamptey's case, he dreaded to see coming.

Tariq Lamptey arrived at QPR with a lengthy injury history

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Arguably, the only reason Lamptey's stock has fallen to the point where he's playing in the Championship at 25 is due to his battles with injury, which have engulfed a promising career thus far.

Lamptey struggled to stay fit for lengthy periods during his time at Brighton. After making 30 Premier League appearances in the 2021/22 term, he failed to make more than 20 in each of the subsequent three.

The Ghanaian international left for Fiorentina last summer, but was taken off just 22 minutes into his first start for the club after suffering an ACL injury, which kept him out for the entire campaign.

QPR would have hoped that Tariq Lamptey could overcome his injury woes at Loftus Road

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Lamptey left Fiorentina in the summer and found his way back to England, joining QPR in what was quite an eye-raising arrival.

The general consensus from both R's and neutral fans alike was that, if the 25-year-old could stay fit, he'd easily be one of the best full-backs in the division. And for the first five games of the campaign, you could see why.

He's played just over 200 Championship minutes this season, and his per-90 stats have him in the 90th percentile amongst full-backs for successful dribbles, duels won, accurate long ball percentage and tackles, per Fotmob.

So, while it was a risk in bringing him in, the reward of having a promotion-level full-back in the squad meant that it was worth the risk if he could just remain fit for a long period.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, even with Stephan being very careful with integrating him into games, alternating starts and substituting him off with plenty of the game still to go against Cardiff City.

"It’s difficult for me to give you more information about them because we have to assess them, but it doesn’t present very well," Stephan said about both Lamptey and Dunne's injuries. Evidently, he doesn't have much hope that the 25-year-old setback will be a short-term one.

QPR have sufficient depth to cover for Tariq Lamptey's absence as the season goes on

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The one positive that could possibly come from this devastating situation for Lamptey is that QPR shouldn't be left too light at full back.

The 25-year-old's alternating starts were at left-back with fellow new arrival and coup of a signing, Dennis Cirkin, who joined a little later in the window having been a free agent following his departure from Sunderland, where he won promotion in 2025.

Boy Kemper, a new arrival from NAC Breda who registered 10 goal contributions for the Dutch top-flight side last season, can also play off the left. He, too, is sidelined, but should be back after the international break.

With Amadou Mbengue and Kealey Adamson playing on the right, there is sufficient full-back depth at Loftus Road, but that doesn't make the absence of Lamptey any less gutting.