QPR admit Samba interest

QPR manager Mark Hughes has admitted that his side have made a bid for Blackburn defender Christopher Samba.

The Welsh coach has been given financial backing by the Loftus Road club, and has stated that he is eager to sign the Ewood Park centre half.

“It’s common knowledge we’ve put in a bid for Chris Samba. We have a number of players we would like to bring to the club. We’ll have to wait and see,” he told Sky Sports.

Rovers boss Steve Kean has confirmed that Samba is not for sale, but the player did miss QPR‘s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday, allegedly due to illness.

Meanwhile, Hughes also confirmed that Joey Barton would not be leaving the club, contrary to reports in the press.

“I saw that as well and I think it’s one of those maybe mischief-making Sunday-morning-prior-to-an-early-kick-off lead stories.

“From my point of view, there’s certainly no suggestion that we are thinking in those terms.

“He is captain of the club, I have re-iterated that this week. Joey is a quality player and we are looking to bring quality in, not to get those type of players out of the building,” he continued.

Hughes also addressed rumours detailing that QPR were set to make a bid for Manchester City‘s want-away striker Carlos Tevez.

“Not in this window, absolutely not. Ideally, I would love the chance to work with Carlos again, but it is not going to happen anytime soon,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight