Djibril Cissé issues bold “top five” claim on former QPR team-mate Adel Taarabt | OneFootball

The former QPR striker has lavished praise on the Moroccan midfielder.

Former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cissé has praised his former QPR teammate Adel Taarabt, stating that, technically, he was "one of the top five players" he played with.

The Moroccan winger lit up Loftus Road with his creativity and technical ability, scoring 26 and assisting 32 times across a couple of Championship campaigns, eventually helping the Hoops to a second-tier title in the 2010/11 season.

Taarabt's numbers were understandably not as freakishly impressive when he made the jump up to the Premier League with QPR, but his quality was still there to be seen by fans, and also teammates, it seems.

Cissé didn't spend too long at Loftus Road, signing for the club in January 2012 before he departed for Qatar to sign with Al-Gharafa on loan 12 months later, but that year was long enough to put Taarabt in amongst the likes of Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Samir Nasri in terms of technical ability, in his eyes.

"He deserved a better career" - Djibril Cissé reminisces about playing with Adel Taarabt at QPR

In an exclusive interview with Football League World, Cissé , a former Champions League and FA Cup winner with Liverpool, was questioned about playing with the 2010/11 Championship Player of the Year during his time at Loftus Road.

Both played key roles in the Hoops' survival in the 2011/12 Premier League campaign. Cissé netted six in eight after arriving in January, whilst Taarabt scored twice and assisted a further five times across the campaign.

"To be honest, he wasn’t a player who kept the ball just to show off; he was really effective," Cissé said.

"Everything that he was doing was to go forward and to go and score, and to be honest, he’s in the top five of the players technically that I played with.

"It was really something to see. I enjoyed it, I like the guy.

"He’s a really cool guy, and in terms of technique and football, I think that he deserved a better career, because he was really gifted.”

Adel Taarabt's post-QPR career didn't live up to Loftus Road expectations

When the Hoops were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2012/13 campaign, there was no expectation for Taarabt to stick around, as he'd already shown that he was levels above the Championship during his time there a few years prior.

However, the Moroccan wasn't able to perform to the same level in his loan spells at Fulham and AC Milan, and despite finally settling at Benfica and spending six of his seven-year spell at the Portuguese giants in the first-team squad, his creative spark had dimmed, and it was looking unlikely that he'd ever reach the heights he showed in the Championship ever again.

He scored just twice in 129 appearances for Benfica, and has since carved out a good end to his career in the UAE, but for those who saw him excel at QPR, it's been a slightly disappointing journey post-Loftus Road for the now 36-year-old.

It may have been 15 years ago, but not many have matched the pure skill and excitement levels that Taarabt did in the years since, and he's still someone who many mention when talking about the best Championship players in the division's history.