QPR must launch move to sign Southampton star for £0 | OneFootball

Will Smallbone's future at Southampton is uncertain, and if he departs this summer, QPR should be on hand to capitalise

With the Championship play-offs expanding to six teams next season, you'd imagine that Queens Park Rangers will be one of the many perennial mid-table sides who will see a top-eight finish as one they can attain.

The foundations were put in place last summer for a club that had ambitions of pushing towards being in promotion contention, with former Rennes boss Julien Stephan at the helm and a plethora of young, emerging stars being signed for decent transfer fees.

The likes of Richard Kone, Rumarn Burrell, and Amadou Mbengue all arrived and played key parts in Stephan's side, and so did Ronnie Edwards in January. And, although having injury-prone seasons, Kwame Poku and Karamoko Dembélé have plenty of potential as well when fit.

So, if a similarly ambitious summer is to come, plus these young, exciting players progress, as QPR hope they will, the Hoops could be an outside shot for a top-eight finish, a position they haven't finished in since their return to the second tier over a decade ago.

But what will an ambitious summer window look like at Loftus Road? Perhaps the free agent signing of a midfielder with promotion pedigree could kick it off.

Will Smallbone may likely be a free agent this summer as his Southampton contract winds down

Understandably, Southampton have a lot on their plate currently. But, when reality sets in that they will be starting a new Championship campaign come August, attention will be on their retained list and who will be staying at or leaving St Mary's this summer.

Will Smallbone is one of those Saints players who will be out of contract in June, with his three-year deal coming to an end. The Irishman has been with the club ever since joining the academy close to 20 years ago, but there's a real possibility that the association ends in the coming weeks.

The 26-year-old had seemingly broken into the Southampton senior fold back in 2023, when he was an integral part of Russell Martin's side, which earned Premier League promotion. He appeared in all but three league games, scored in the play-off semi-final win over West Brom, and assisted Adam Armstrong's winner against Leeds United at Wembley.

Various injuries limited him to just 18 top-flight appearances last year, though, and upon their Championship return, he wasn't favoured by Will Still and was sent out on loan to Millwall, with many speculating that it would be the final time the Irishman would be seen at St Mary's.

Unfortunately, this season, injury struck even worse. A hamstring injury in late October took him out until early March. Then, later that month, he was ruled out for even longer after picking up a knock ahead of their crunch match with Ipswich Town.

He returned for the final day of the season but played no part in the Lions' play-off semi-final defeat to Hull City. Overall, he played 10 times this season in the Championship, only four of which were starts.

QPR should take the injury risk and pursue Will Smallbone this summer

The likelihood last summer may have been that Smallbone would have spent the final year of his Southampton contract at Millwall, and then Alex Neil's side would have signed him for free at the end of it.

However, with his injury issues this season, it may have put the play-off semi-finalists off, and QPR should be alert if that happens.

In the two seasons before the Saints' recent Premier League campaign, when his injury problems began, Smallbone had played 43 times in consecutive years, once on loan with Stoke City and the other the aforementioned promotion campaign at St Mary's under Russell Martin.

Not having a proper pre-season derailed the 26-year-old's season this year, so the likelihood could be that, if fit throughout the summer, Smallbone could play a big part in a side challenging for a play-off spot, which QPR will hope to be.

Granted, the Hoops have a strong engine room already, with Nicolas Madsen coming off a breakout year himself and Jonathan Varane still improving, but with little in reserve other than youngster Kieran Morgan and Sam Field, who wasn't favoured this season, Stephan will need some quality depth options this summer.

Smallbone has shown that he can provide that quality, but having him as a depth booster would mean that, if his injury problems do remain, it wouldn't affect the immediate balance of the squad. Plus, his promotion-winning experience could help an inexperienced R's squad off the field, too.

But then, on the flip side, if the Irishman can stay fit and resume where he left off in 2024, then QPR would have a top-quality operator heading into his prime years who could even usurp one of the middle pivot from this season.

For a potential free transfer, he'd be a low-risk, high-reward signing, and one that the Hoops shouldn't hesitate to think about making this summer if the opportunity arises.