• Premier League

Warnock losing hope over Taarabt

ESPN staff
July 15, 2011
Adel Taarabt could have played his last game for QPR © Getty Images
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QPR boss Neil Warnock has admitted it is unlikely the club will be able to keep star player Adel Taarabt at Loftus Road, saying it is tough to hang onto players "once their head is turned".

Taarabt, who earned the Championship's Player of the Year award after helping to land the title last season, is "missing his family" and it now appears Warnock has resigned himself to losing the 23-year-old.

Last week Warnock declared it likely the player would leave the London outfit, but performed a U-turn on Monday by refusing to admit defeat over Taarabt's expected departure.

However, four days later and it seems the player's position has changed again, with Warnock likening the situation to Luka Modric's protracted transfer saga at Tottenham.

"With his family all in France, his girlfriend there as well, there's so many things to taunt you," he told Sky Sports News. "He's going to be at a top club, massive money. It's like the [Luka] Modric situation at Tottenham. It's very difficult to keep players once their head is turned. But he's training well, and he knows if he doesn't go what better stage to put his talent on show than the Premier League.

"It's not down to me, Flavio [Briatore] will make the decision on what money they expect. He will tell me as and when he is going to go."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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