QPR could bring Nottingham Forest outcast home to replace Chris Willock: View | OneFootball

Chris Willock looks set to leave Queens Park Rangers this summer, with the creative midfielder still yet to sign a new deal with the club following the end of the season.

The former Benfica man will bring an end to his four-year association with the R’s if he does choose to move on; a period which has seen him play 140 league matches and score 20 goals.

Having played such a big part in keeping Rangers in the Championship in the previous campaign, Marti Cifuentes will be searching for a replacement who can reproduce the quality that Willock added in the final third, with his moments of magic helping his side beat the drop.

One player who could tempt the Spaniard would be former QPR academy prospect Josh Bowler, with the Nottingham Forest outcast failing to make an impact during his time at the City Ground.

Josh Bowler could reignite career with return to Loftus Road

Bowler seemed to have the world at his feet when he made the move from Blackpool to Nottingham Forest in 2022, having been a standout player for the Tangerines with ten goal contributions as well as countless mazy dribbles on the flanks at Bloomfield Road.

The move to the Tricky Trees hasn’t gone as planned though, having failed to play a game for the club to date, and spending much of his time on loan away.

After initially joining Olympiacos in Greece, the winger returned to Blackpool for a spell, before spending the entirety of last season with Cardiff City, where he scored five times in 38 league games.

That spell in the Welsh capital has proven that he still has what it takes to perform at Championship level, and can be one of the division’s most deadly widemen when he is given the chance to shine, just like Cifuentes would let him.

With plenty of EFL clubs likely to want to snap him up ahead of the next campaign, Rangers could lure him back to West London to be among familiar surroundings, having made his professional debut for the club back in 2017.

An initial £1.5m move to Everton soon followed although he failed to make an appearance for the Toffees first team, before leaving the club to join Blackpool four years later.

Marti Cifuentes will be eyeing replacements for Chris Willock

Cifuentes sparked a major turnaround in his side’s form after moving to Loftus Road last year and utilised the likes of Willock expertly to make Rangers a much more potent threat in the final third than they had been previously under Gareth Ainsworth.

The Spaniard has already spoken about his admiration for the 26-year-old earlier this year but looks resigned to losing him for the following campaign.

Cifuentes [pictured] said in April, via the London News Online: "He knows how much we rate him, and I think he knows how much we like him.

"But what is going to happen in the future I don’t know. What is sure is that he showed today that he loves this club and that he wanted to play here and help us."

Willock added plenty to the Hoops’ frontline with his willingness to take risks in the final third, something that Bowler has always done in his career, with his fearlessness in possession making ample opportunities for himself and teammates.

The forward’s nifty footwork regularly draws plenty of attention from opposition defenders; freeing up space in other areas of the field for colleagues to exploit, while his jinking runs can often turn a game on its head in an instant.

With QPR finishing the previous season with just three defeats from their final 14 league matches of the season, big things are expected from the Loftus Road outfit once Cifuentes has a full summer to put his mark onto the side, and the addition of Bowler could add an unpredictability that the Spaniard could exploit over the course of the campaign.

Losing Willock will be a bitter pill to swallow, but the addition of a player with bags of quality like Bowler possesses would help to soften the blow and prepare the R’s for what promises to be an exciting season ahead.

Forest have confirmed he remains under contract but they would surely be open to an offer - be it loan or permanent - that gets him off their books.