Charlie Austin makes big Ilias Chair prediction at QPR | OneFootball

Former QPR striker, Charlie Austin has reacted to QPR's recent update on Ilias Chair, who has been out of action for much of the 2025/26 campaign.

It's been somewhat of a frustrating season for QPR this term, with the Hoops struggling particularly in the second-half of this year's league campaign.

They had previously been in and around the play-off positions in the Championship, but a poor run of results since the turn of the New Year has seen them fade away in the battle to win promotion into the Premier League.

Julien Stephan's side have shown improvement in recent weeks though, having beaten relegation-threatened Leicester City, which was then followed up by a 6-1 thrashing of Portsmouth on home soil last time out.

It seems a tough ask for QPR to force themselves into the play-offs between now and the end of the season, and they'll have one eye on next term already.

It's somewhat unfair to judge Stephan too much for QPR's struggles in the second-half of the 2025/26 league campaign though, with the Frenchman not having a fully fit squad available to choose from.

One of those to miss out frequently is Ilias Chair, with the tricky midfielder spending the majority of the season in the treatment room, much to the frustration of some of the club's supporters.

QPR have recently revealed that Chair is now back training on the grass, although a date is yet to be set for his potential return to competitive action for the first-team.

Charlie Austin reacts to recent Ilias Chair update

QPR have had their fair share of fan favourites over the years, and Charlie Austin certainly falls into that category. The former Hoops forward fired the club into the Premier League in his first year with the club, before going on to score regularly for them in the top-flight.

Austin has recently reacted on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account to QPR's interview with Chair, where he spoke about his frustrating injury lay-off, and the former Southampton and Burnley striker issued a prediction on Chair's potential return.

"The kid is going to (be) back before the end of the season."

Many QPR supporters will certainly hope that Austin's prediction is correct, with Chair playing a key role for the Hoops over the years, and many will be wondering what could have been this season if the Moroccan international was available for selection.

Chair's quality is there for all to see

It's been a frustrating few seasons for Chair with QPR now, with the midfielder not being fully fit for a prolonged period of the season, which is tough to see.

Chair scored two goals, and was on hand to provide six assists for his QPR teammates in 29 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops during the 2024/25 campaign.

In the 2023/24 season, the 28-year-old had seven goals and eight assists to his name in 44 league appearances for QPR, and having played all but two of those league games, that seems to be catching up with Chair nowadays.

He's a real talent at this level, and it begs the question whether he would have been attracting further transfer interest from other clubs if he'd stayed injury-free.

QPR are set to return to action on Friday, as they take on Watford, in what is set to be a closely-fought battle between both teams at the MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium, and it seems highly unlikely that Chair will feature so soon after returning to training.