QPR chief opens up on transfers as Leeds United business dubbed 'underwhelming'

Millwall and QPR are now on international break after picking up their first wins of the league campaign in the final weekend before the break. Both clubs will, no doubt, be desperate to return to action as they look to continue building momentum.

Both clubs will also be working hard on the training ground as they look to iron out any early-season issues, albeit without their international players. Here we round up all the latest surrounding the Championship clubs.

Watmore on Harris

“The manager has been brilliant with me,” Watmore told the South London Press. “He has given me a lot of belief and freedom to go and express myself in the final third – to get in dangerous parts of the pitch when I can affect the game. I owe a lot to that.

“I really enjoy playing under him (Harris) – he has a way of playing that suits me. You can see that throughout the team – he motivates and lifts you. I do have the freedom to drift and make those runs. He is very much involved and encouraging of it.”

Nourry on QPR transfer strategy

QPR chief Christian Nourry has lifted the lid on the club’s recruitment strategy after a busy summer for the Hoops. “We think that this model of knowing how we want to play, and having a coach who can execute and evolve it, is the right one because then the thinking is really joined up,” Nourry told the South London Press. “Based on that work we have 15 or 16 positional profiles in a 25-man squad. We then have names in all positions and then we will sit down together with the coaching staff and look at our priorities for the window and how we are going to achieve those together.

“A lot of clubs have a StatsBomb account, does that actually get used when they sign players would be another question. We are making sure that the first filter is data-driven and data-led in terms of the players we want to look at because we think they can be successful in how we play. We don’t move forward on a player unless Marti, Xavi, Andy and myself are in agreement that it’s going to work. That sort of old ad hock version of ‘what we thinking we might need today?’ and looking to see in the other room if we have it is not a good way to operate.

“We worked in total lockstep over the course of the summer and everybody was unanimous on the players we brought in to the football club. I’m not the one sat there watching 50 games of Nicolas Madsen. We have people who are highly specialised at what they do. Just like I don’t pick the team, I don’t tell Andy: ‘I’ve seen 10 games of this guy, we like him’.

“But I do receive a significant level of detail on all of the bits and pieces that means we as a group think these are the right people to go forward with and I will deal with everything in terms of finances. If there is a specific hot button issue where there’s a level of disagreement on a certain player then I will spend more time looking at a player myself. But generally speaking, I’m not sitting there watching hundreds of games a day.”

Leeds signings doubted

BBC analyst Adam Pope has questioned the quality of Leeds United’s signings after the Yorkshire giants allowed a number of top players to depart. “We often use this expression about the signings being in isolation, or the sales being in isolation, or results in isolation.” Pope said on his podcast.

“I still stand by it, I think the window is still a little bit underwhelming because we just don’t know of the quality of the players and how they are going to do. However, on first sight, hopefully, the recruitment team have gone out and got the players that are going to adapt very quickly to this level.”