New QPR, Bamba Dieng link will have £1m star sweating | OneFootball

QPR's Rumarn Burrell may not love the news of club'sclubs links to Lorient striker Bamba Dieng

Queens Park Rangers are looking forward to another year in the Championship next season, as Julien Stephan prepares for his second full year in charge of the R's, with the hopes of breaking into the top six next time around, having fallen short previously.

QPR have become a staple of the Championship over the past decade or so, with the R's about to endure their 12th consecutive year in the second tier.

During that period, only a handful of occasions to ever fire themselves back into the Premier League have emerged, with the West London outfit more often than not lingering around mid-table, with their recent 15th-placed finish indicative of just that.

This time around, manager Julien Stephan will be looking to have a much stronger push towards the top six and will be keen to get stuck into the summer window to make some key additions.

Already possessing an attack with the likes of Koki Saito, Karamoko Dembele, Ilias Chair, Paul Smyth, Harvey Vale, Rayan Kolli, Justin Obikwu, Daniel Bennie, Richard Kone, and Rumarn Burrell as options, QPR ought to have enough firepower to sustain a strong push towards the play-offs.

However, Stephan doesn't seem to think so, as according to FootballInsider's Pete O'Rourke via X, QPR, alongside West Bromwich Albion, are tracking the services of Lorient striker Bamba Dieng on a free transfer this summer, which could spell bad news for one of their current forward options.

Dieng, 26, has spent his entire career to date in France with the likes of Marseille, Angers, and most recently Lorient, and is someone that Stephan will be well aware of.

The Senegalese international is due to represent his nation at the World Cup in North America in the next few weeks, where he will be hoping to make an impression on the global stage ahead of a move this summer.

QPR remain interested, but each of Portsmouth, Oxford United, and Leicester City have all been linked with a move for the £5 million-rated forward in the past, and with Dieng set to cost nothing in terms of a transfer fee, it makes him a highly attractive option for clubs across the Championship and the rest of Europe, including the R's.

QPR's interest indicates that Stephan isn't wholly pleased with his current attacking options, and should a move for Dieng go through, it would almost certainly spell bad news for one of their current attacking options, with Rumarn Burrell particularly at risk.

Along with Kone and Obikwu, Burrell made the move to West London in the past 12 months, joining from League One Burton Albion for around £1 million, where he netted ten goals and grabbed three assists in 30 Championship games in his first year at Loftus Road.

Burrell, 25, and Kone, 22, both netted ten in the league despite the former playing 13 fewer games than the latter, but despite this, Kone is evidently rated higher, being three years Burrell's junior.

A fully-fledged Jamaican international, Burrell, by most accounts, has had an excellent first year in the Championship, and though an injury sustained against Sheffield Wednesday in January kept him out of action for a few months, he still impressed whenever fit and available.

Though with each of Kone, Obikwu, and Burrell as options up top, QPR's current interest in Dieng doesn't make much sense, unless one were to be moving on.

Obikwu signed from Coventry City in January after impressing on loan with Lincoln City, and is unlikely to depart after six months, whilst Kone's arrival from Wycombe Wanderers in the summer was viewed as a real coup, with him too unlikely to depart.

This leaves Burrell as the only other option, as Stephan may look to cash in on the Jamaican this summer, whilst his stock is high and facilitate a move for Dieng.

Whatever the case, a move for Dieng spells bad news for QPR's current forward options, as at least one will fall as a victim of the Senegalese's acquisition, with Burrell being the most obvious candidate.

Julien Stephan will have a big decision to make on the futures of QPR's current striker options if Bamba Dieng's transfer materialises

Should a move for Dieng go through, then Stephan will have a huge decision to make on his current attacking options.

Predominantly deploying a 4-2-3-1 across the course of the campaign, it would mean that one of two of his current striker options would likely be forced out wide or in behind the main centre-forward, which would then detriment those in those positions.

Either Stephan must switch his current formation to facilitate two centre-forwards on the pitch, push one or two of them out wide or in behind, or move one of two of them on.

Dieng would be an excellent option for QPR up top, and with him being available on a free, it's no surprise they are interested.