QPR may always have Blackburn Rovers transfer curiosity – Neil Warnock later saw what Loftus Road didn’t | OneFootball

Queens Park Rangers may always have a curiosity and a regret about Junior Hoilett's disappointing spell, following his move from Blackburn Rovers.

In what appeared to be a shrewd bit of business at the time, Junior Hoilett joined Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2012, but it was a deal that never worked out for the R’s, despite him spending four seasons at Loftus Road.

Hoilett had begun his career in English football with Blackburn Rovers and had been a key man for the Lancastrians at a young enough age to prompt QPR into purchasing the highly-rated 22-year-old attacker.

Hoilett did enjoy some minimal success at Loftus Road, but it was a frustrating stint in west London, made even more frustrating by his impressive performance once again, after he had departed the Hoops.

The exciting potential of Hoilett

In the 2009/10 campaign, Hoilett broke into the Blackburn first-team after a couple of seasons out on loan in Germany with Paderborn and then St Pauli – and he began to flourish at Ewood Park in the 2010/11 season.

Having helped Rovers steer clear of relegation on the final day of the season, following a run of just two defeats in their final games in which Hoilett scored three crucial goals, including one on the final day of the season; he then became a talismanic figure for them as they were relegated from the Premier League in the 2011/12 campaign, scoring seven goals and providing five assists for a relegated side.

He joined QPR at the end of his contract but endured a difficult first season at Loftus Road due to a mix of injuries and poor form that saw him in and out of the team before an underwhelming following few seasons, in which he did provide the assist for Bobby Zamora’s famous play-off final winning goal against Derby County at Wembley Stadium in 2014.

He went goalless in 22 Premier League games for QPR in the 2014/15 season before showing signs of class but sheer inconsistency in his final season in the 2015/16 Championship campaign.

What will have frustrated QPR supporters even more was his subsequent free transfer to Cardiff City and the performances he put in for Neil Warnock, who had managed QPR for a month on an interim basis in the autumn of the 15/16 season.

Hoilett showed his quality at Cardiff

Warnock took charge of Cardiff in October 2016 and led the Bluebirds to a mid-table finish after a terrible start under Paul Trollope and then the veteran manager managed to pull off one of his many surprise promotions, leading Cardiff to the Premier League in the 2017/18 season.

In that season, Hoilett was Cardiff’s top scorer across all competitions with 11 goals, notching nine goals in the league with 11 assists as they finished as runners’ up behind Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The story of his career through the 2010s is one of a spell of real promise and exciting potential at Blackburn as well as one of substance and style in a promotion-winning Cardiff side, sandwiching a mediocre at best stint in west London.

Hoilett, who has 65 caps for Canada and played for them at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is currently at Hibernian after spells with Reading, the Vancouver Whitecaps and Aberdeen, where he was reunited with Warnock.

QPR thought they had signed a gem in the Premier League at the age of just 22, and he showed that he could well have been that during his career. Unfortunately, it could never and did never click at Loftus Road like it did with Cardiff.