Not Quite Over

It’s looking like another season in the championship with surely too much to do to catch up with the play off contenders at this late stage of the season Although, with 10 games to go there is still a lot to play for. 

Of course we changed manager during this season and the new man, Aitor Karanka made two signings in the last transfer window in Ayala and Tomlin. He will surely be seet to make further changes in the next window. Other players will have to impress the manager for next season. This summer seems set to be an interesting one with plenty of ins and outs as we try and build a team to get out of this league. 

There are a lot of contracts are coming to an end especially in the goalkeeper positions, Jayson Leutwiler and Dimi Konstatopoulos out of contract this summer.  Which opens up the debate about who should be playing between the sticks for us at the moment.  Following Tomas Mejias coming in and only playing one game and then getting injured I fully expected Jason Steele to start. I rate Jason Steele very highly and it’s a shame to see him out of the frame with Dimi Konstatopoulos getting the nod. I know Karanka likes experience as brought in experienced GK Shay Given while Steele was injured. Yet it’s a bad move for me and sadly I can see Steele being sold in the summer to fund other areas of our squad 

Aitor Karanka has a lot of players in his squad with just one year remaining on their contracts: Steele, Friend, Leadbitter, Ledesma, L Williams, Hines, Whitehead, Carayol, Main, Kamara, Woodgate and Emnes all fall under this bracket. I would like to see us extend the contracts of Friend, Leadbitter and Carayol, they are the main players I would like to see us keep. I would sell Emnes to give us funds to strengthen the squad but  I would like us to keep Lukas Jutkiewicz as I think he offers a lot to the team with his work rate creating chances for others. 

Regarding the loan signings I would like to see Omeruo come back next season if we can agree another deal with Chelsea. He has impressed me since got in the first team with Ayala and Woodgate dropped out with injuries. Varga has been solid at right back and is another one that should be sorted in the summer, I know a fee had been agreed when we took out the loan. 

For me the highlight of the season so far has been the form of Ben Gibson. He has been outstanding of late and it is obvious that the two loans spells he had with York and Tranmere have helped him massively. Yes, he has been involved in some mistakes with pens and a sending off yet Ben will learn from that, he going be a top player and possibly future captain with his talking and organising.  

 (FMTTM Column QPR 22-03-14)