QPR struck transfer gold after Benfica decision - but there’s a catch | OneFootball

QPR missed out on potentially a huge windfall on Cardiff City midfielder Chris Willock

Queen’s Park Rangers decided to sign Chris Willock on a permanent deal in the summer of 2020 after a successful loan with Huddersfield Town.

A product of the Arsenal youth system and brother of Newcastle United midfielder Joe Willock, Chris Willock's career has been full of ups and downs.

He’d spend his entire youth career with Arsenal before making a surprise move to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, linking up with European giants Benfica.

However, he would never make a senior appearance for the club, and would subsequently spend two years in their youth system before a loan to Championship side West Brom for the first half of the 2019/20 season.

The former England youth international failed to make a single appearance at The Hawthorns, and would head out on loan once again to the English second tier, joining Huddersfield Town, scoring twice in 14 games and catching the eye of QPR in the process, who provided Willock with a return to London on a permanent basis.

QPR thought they had hit the jackpot with the capture of Chris Willock from Benfica

After a successful six months in West Yorkshire with Huddersfield, QPR made Benfica a £750k offer to bring Willock back to his native country permanently, which was accepted as the winger signed a three-year deal with the R’s with an option for a fourth.

In his first season at Loftus Road, Willock made 38 Championship appearances, scoring three and assisting five, with his minutes almost being evenly varied from the bench and starting 11, competing for game time with the likes of Ilias Chair, Albert Adomah, and Bright Osayi-Samuel on the flanks.

In his second season, however, Willock would explode into life under the guidance of former Brentford boss Mark Warburton, hitting seven goals and 11 assists from 35 league games, averaging a direct goal contribution just over every other game.

He’d be awarded the EFL Championship Player of the Month award for November 2021 after scoring three and assisting the other three of the R’s’ six goals that month, and would end the season by accumulating three separate Player of the Year awards.

Willock would continue to impress in West London the following season, albeit with a bit of a drop-off in productivity, with just six goals and two assists during the 2022/23 season, as QPR decided to activate his one-year extension clause.

In his final season with the Hoops, Willock scored four and assisted four in 39 league games, and despite being offered fresh terms to remain with the club, he would reject them in favour of switching to the Welsh capital, linking up with Cardiff City on a free transfer.

Although Willock would finish his stay at Loftus Road with 20 goals and 22 assists in 140 games across all competitions for the club, there will always remain an air of disappointment that they were not able to cash in on the former Arsenal man whilst his value was sky-high.

At one point in time, Willock was the most in-form player in the Championship, with his value peaking in and around late 2022, with FLW’s QPR fan pundit, Louis, believing he was worth around £15 million at one point.

Louis said, "Honestly, he was so good, he was one of the best players in the league.

"There were fans saying that he could be worth £15 million odd, selling him for as much as we did or nearly as much as we did for [Ebere] Eze.

"Injuries unfortunately just caught up with Willock, and it was a shame because a player like that with that ability, if he was consistent he would’ve been playing in the Premier League.

Whether QPR would have been able to collect such a fee for Willock will never be known, but they surely could have made a healthy profit had they decided to sell him around the perfect time.

Instead, they were resigned to losing the winger for nothing, though they couldn’t have predicted how things would play out.