• Premier League

Redknapp struggling to improve QPR squad

ESPN staff
January 7, 2013

Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp admits he has found it hard to attract new recruits to help lift the Loftus Road side off the bottom of the Premier League table.

Redknapp has a keen eye for a transfer deal and has insisted that Rangers need to bring in players before the end of January to have any hope of staying in the top flight.

QPR sit five points adrift of safety, and with goals proving hard to come by it is little wonder that Redknapp is in the market for a striker, though he faces competition from Newcastle United for £10 million-rated Marseille forward Loic Remy.

Redknapp has brought in Tal Ben Haim, DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd since the transfer window opened in the New Year, but with Joe Cole opting for a return to Upton Park over the chance to rejoin Redknapp at Loftus Road and the expected departure of defender Ryan Nelsen to Major League Soccer, he is desperate to bolster his squad by the end of the month.

"I'm flying all around the world tomorrow to try and get one or two players," Redknapp said. "I need to improve the squad.

"I'll do everything I can to do that. We have to do a little bit of business somewhere, whether it's loans or whatever.

"We have to strengthen. We're short in certain areas. The team needs picking up."

Manchester City defender Micah Richards has been spotted in the Loftus Road crowd in recent weeks, but Redknapp played down the likelihood of signing the injured full-back.

"Yeah, I've just done a deal with him," quipped Redknapp. "He didn't want to play in the Premier League-winning team and thought he'd be better off here."

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