"A bit underwhelming" - Imminent QPR exit welcomed but £1m transfer fee criticised | OneFootball

The Scotland international is set to move to the League One side for £1 million.

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...

Birmingham City are set to announce the signing of Queens Park Rangers striker Lyndon Dykes in the final days of the transfer window.

According to The Athletic's Adam Leventhal, Blues have agreed a £1 million fee for the 28-year-old Scotland international, who was born in Australia.

Dykes has scored just 37 goals in 165 games for QPR, having moved to west London in August 2020 from Scottish club Livingston for around £2 million.

However, despite the high fee, Dykes has failed to live up to the hype, and has reached double-figures in goals in just one season for the R's.

The striker will eventually become Birmingham's 15th signing of the summer, as they look for an instant return to the Championship following relegation in 2023/24, however, it does leave QPR needing a replacement with just days left in the transfer window.

QPR: Lyndon Dykes exit welcomed but £1 million fee deliberated

After finding the back of the net 12 times in the league during his first season at Loftus Road, many had hoped that Dykes could push on and become a more regular scorer.

But, his second year at the club was marred by breaks through injury, managing just 27 starts in the Championship, scoring eight times.

His goal-scoring record has only slowed as time has progressed, but with his contract not running out until 2026, FLW's QPR Fan Pundit, Louis Moir, thinks that a higher fee could have been agreed.

"I thought we would have got more than just £1 million for Dykes," Louis told Football League World.

"He has a few years left on his contract, so I was expecting a maximum fee of probably £2 million, anywhere between that and around £1.5 million, so it’s a bit underwhelming.

"But at the end of the day, we're getting money for a striker who doesn't score enough goals at this level and is just too inconsistent.

"I've wanted Dykes to depart the club for a while now, I feel it's quite overdue. I mean, it's a bit of a strange move, dropping a division, but obviously, he must think that Birmingham can come straight back up, and he'll be part of something good going on there."

QPR need to source new striker signing ASAP following Lyndon Dykes agreement

While the Hoops have had a fairly successful summer, this news will come as a shock, and the club will now have to look for a new striker to replace Dykes.

They do currently have Michael Frey and Žan Celar on their books, but lack depth if one of the two gets injured.

Bringing in a young, quick forward is the way forward, according to Louis, who added: "We've now got to get a replacement. We signed Karamoko Dembélé and Koki Saito to add pace and depth to the winger positions, but we still lack pace up front, and we've just got Celar and Frey, who are both fairly similar.

"They're not quick. Celar’s probably got better positioning and movement than Frey, but he’s done okay so far this season.