£1.7m flop told he has "no future at QPR" as struggle continues | OneFootball

Zan Celar was a big money buy for QPR, but his time at Loftus Road was a disaster and he's now struggling on loan in Germany with Fortuna Dusseldorf.

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 striker Zan Celar was sent on loan to 2. Bundesliga club Fortuna Dusseldorf after his big money move to Loftus Road turned into a flop.

There were high hopes for striker Zan Celar when he signed for Queens Park Rangers for £1.7 million plus £700,000 in add-on fees in the summer of 2024. The Slovenian international striker had scored 51 goals in 118 appearances for his previous club Lugano, and by this time was an international striker.

But his time at Loftus Road turned out to be a disaster. The 2024-25 season saw him score just twice in 24 appearances for QPR, and in the summer the decision was made to send him out on loan to 2. Bundesliga club Fortuna Dusseldorf. But this move doesn't seem to have improved his fortunes. He's made six appearances for them so far and has failed to score, all of which raises the question of what happens next to a career that seems to be coming off the rails.

Disappointment expressed over Zan Celar transfer failure

With all of this in mind, FLW have spoken to our Queens Park Rangers fan pundit, Louis Moir, about Celar's past, present and future, and Louis is frustrated that this move to Loftus Road didn't work out: "It's a really strange situation, what's happening with Zan Celar at the moment. Obviously, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the signing when we made it. He scored a lot of goals in Switzerland and you could knock the quality of that league, but he had European experience, scoring goals out there. On paper, it was a good signing. It was something different, something we were looking for."

Louis feels strongly that Celar's move to Queens Park Rangers didn't work out for his club: "Obviously, it just did not work out. He was so poor, and then his fortunes changed a little bit, scoring two great goals away to Cardiff, but then he got injured. It was bleak times for Celar and QPR, and I think loaning him out this season is a clear sign that he's not in any plans, and we'll probably try to get rid of him on a permanent if we can in January or next summer. It's one of those signings where it wasn't meant to be, and he wasn't meant to do well in English football."

But Louis also feels that the striker's move to Dusseldorf hasn't provided Celar with the reboot that his faltering career needs, and that this will be affecting the player: "But obviously he's not even having an impact at Dusseldorf at the moment, and to not score a goal for them yet in the league, that's disappointing and really poor, and you can imagine his confidence is going to be rock bottom, maybe even more so than it was at QPR, considering he's had a fresh start."

From a Rangers perspective, Louis is concerned that Celar's failures on the pitch will impact his club from a financial perspective: "We spent a bit of money on him, and I'd be shocked if we get anywhere near what we spent on him back when we try and sell him. I think clubs will look at that and think there's no way they're going to spend anywhere near the amount we spent on him, considering he's in the second tier in Germany and he's not cutting it yet."

And barring a complete reversal of fortunes, Louis cannot see a future for the striker at Loftus Road: "It's not to say he won't, if he's given a little time and can settle in at another club, but it is surprising because I think he looked fairly sharp for them during pre-season. It's just not working out and I don't what it is. If it doesn't work, what will he need to get his career back on track? Let's not forget, getting minutes as a Slovenian international. It's a strange one, but there'll be no future for him at QPR, hence loaning him out this season."

Zan Celar's time at QPR was fatally wounded by an unfortunately-timed injury

At present in Germany, the biggest issue that Zan Celar faces is getting game time. He's made six appearances for Fortuna Dusseldorf so far this season, but four of these came from the bench and he's only played 224 minutes in total for the club.

Celar has ended up in Germany because his 2024-25 season didn't work out as anybody had hoped. He made 24 appearances for Rangers last season, of which 19 came in the Championship, but only ten of these were starting appearances.

To a point, bad luck was definitely involved in all this. He scored his first goals for the club in a 2-0 win at Cardiff City at the end of November 2024 which lifted them off the bottom of the table, but just two weeks later he picked up a hamstring injury early in Rangers' 3-0 home win against Norwich City that ended up keeping him out of the first team for the remainder of the season. Perhaps, had he stayed in the team rather than suffering this unfortunately timed injury, things might have worked out differently.

If scoring goals regularly is a matter of confidence, it's not difficult to see why Celar is struggling. He has recovered from the injury which kept him out of the QPR team for more than half of last season, but his move to Dusseldorf hasn't seen a turnaround in his goalscoring fortunes, and the assessment that Rangers need to sell him seems like the best option for the club.

Whether Celar can get back to the sort of form that earned him a big money move to London not that much more than a year ago remains an open question. At 26 years of age, there is still time for him to turn this around. But it doesn't seem likely that this turnaround will be happening at Loftus Road.