QPR backed to sign 12-goal Peterborough United star for £1m - He could be "the real deal" | OneFootball

Football League World's resident QPR fan pundit has discussed the club's interest in Peterborough United starlet Malik Mothersille

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

QPR have been backed to beat Charlton Athletic to the signing of Peterborough United starlet Malik Mothersille this summer.

The R's will be looking to build upon last season's 15th-placed finish in the Championship and progress up the table under Julien Stephan, who is poised to take over as Marti Cifuentes' successor at Loftus Road.

QPR are yet to make a signing this summer amid the extensive managerial saga in West London, although that has not prevented them from running the rule over potential targets and their efforts will only accelerate as Stephan gets his feet under the table.

As exclusively revealed by FLW earlier this week, QPR and freshly-promoted Charlton are both interested in Mothersille, who enjoyed an impressive 2024/25 campaign with Peterborough in League One.

The versatile 21-year-old attacker, who is out of contract at London Road next summer, found the back of the net on 12 occasions in League One and returned an eye-catching return of 16 goals and 10 assists from 57 appearances across all competitions.

Mothersille is familiar with West London after rising through the Chelsea youth ranks prior to his arrival at Peterborough in September 2023, and QPR have been backed to seal a deal for the exciting one-cap Jamaica international this summer.

QPR backed to beat Charlton Athletic to Peterborough United's Malik Mothersille

FLW asked our resident QPR fan pundit, Louis Moir, whether he is excited about the club's interest in Mothersille and what sort of fee would be acceptable to shell out for the Peterborough star.

Louis believes that Mothersille could be "the real deal", citing the conveyor belt of talent at Championship level and beyond from Peterborough in recent times.

In Louis' view, Mothersille would bring a new dimension of pace from wide areas that QPR have lacked ever since the departure of Bright Osayi-Samuel to Fenerbache more than four years ago, and he has argued that the forward could be worth "around £1 million".

"Malik Mothersille looks a proper player," Louis told FLW.

"I think Peterborough have had quite a few talented players who have made the step-up to the Championship over the past few years, and with him being only 21, he looks a real, real talent.

"He has that experience of coming through the youth academy at Chelsea. Having looked at his highlights, he looks very pacey - we've lacked a lot of pace in recent season - he looks tricky like a real winger and you would be confident in him having the ability to step up to Championship football.

"He's not the finished article but with our history and track record of developing players, if it was a choice between us and Charlton then he would surely come to QPR.

"Price-wise, they would probably want a little bit but he's in the last year of his contract, so you could end up getting him for not a bad deal. Maybe he's worth £1 million, if that.

"But scoring 12 goals and getting nine assists (in the league), that's good going. He looks a really exciting talent and someone who you could argue, if we signed him, could be the closest thing we've had to Bright Osayi-Samuel.

"Since he left, we've not been able to replace him. We've not been able to replace his pace, that's for sure, and Mothersille looks like he could be the real deal.

"So fingers crossed that we can get a deal done because it would be disappointing to miss out on a player who has an abundance of quality to another Championship club. He looks really, really good and would cause havoc against Championship opposition.

Peterborough United may have to cash in on Malik Mothersille in potential QPR boost

Mothersille's future with Peterborough remains up in the air. As aforementioned, he has just twelve months to run on his current contract and Posh would be wise to avoid the risk of potentially losing him on a free transfer to a club in mainland Europe next summer with minimal compensation available.

Clubs are, of course, compensated for the departures of players aged 24 or under at the expiration of their contracts, although they are only entitled to healthy compensation figures when that player joins a domestic club.

Peterborough were stung by the recent exit of Ricky-Jade Jones, who had interest across the Championship but ultimately decided to join Bundesliga outfit St. Pauli earlier this month.

They could yet suffer a similar fate with in-demand winger Kwame Poku.

The tricky winger outshone all during his final two years at Peterborough and reportedly has interest from up to 26 domestic and continental clubs - including the likes of Birmingham City, Rangers and Ipswich Town - but there is a growing concern that he will also move overseas, which would see Peterborough only receive a low compensation fee for a multi-million-pound asset who could have been sold for a significant sum last summer after leaving at the conclusion of his contract.

Unsurprisingly, Peterborough supporters have been critical towards the strategy of allowing young assets to run down their deals when there is the risk of losing them for next to nothing, missing out on millions in the process, and there is pressure on chairman Darragh MacAnthony to avoid any future reoccurrence.

That could play right into QPR's hands this summer, as Posh could decide to cash in on Mothersille with the guarantee of a fair price on their own terms instead of risking a repeat of the Jones, and potentially Poku, situation.