QPR should offer Arsenal's Marquinhos a shot at Championship redemption: Opinion | OneFootball

QPR's 2022/23 Championship campaign encapsulated complete and utter capitulation, as fortunes changed and jettisoned in alarming fashion.

Only in November had the West London side sat atop of the Championship table, but the departure of managerial mastermind Michael Beale to Rangers sparked one of the most notable deteriorations in the league's recent history as QPR plummeted into the peril of a relegation dogfight.

As it turned out, their early-season form proved to keep them in the division, with just four more victories being claimed across the rest of the campaign after Beale's autumn exit, under both Neil Critchley and Gareth Ainsworth.

The latter has stayed on at QPR and will be desperate to direct a vast upturn in the upcoming season, as his side simply cannot afford to struggle the way they did again in what promises to be a more imposing and competitive league than ever before.

As things stand, though, the odds are not stacked within their favor.

Despite the evident need for reinforcements, just three fresh faces have been welcomed in Paul Smyth, Asmir Begovic and Morgan Fox.

In fairness, the returning Smyth may not be too much of a fresh face at Loftus Road having made 23 appearances after arriving from Northern Ireland heavyweights Linfield- and he has earned his stripes in his two years away from the club with Leyton Orient- and Begovic and Fox represent solid, reliable acquisitions in their own right.

But it is not yet enough; QPR have a gaping deficit in depth, and their attacking line is a definite cause of concern heading into the upcoming campaign.

However, Ainsworth could remedy those problems by offering Arsenal's Marquinhos a crack at second-tier salvation following last season's loan spell with Norwich City.

After moving to Norfolk on loan in January, Marquinhos' brief Canaries career epitomized the exact essence of peaking prematurely.

The Brazilian youth international embraced a stunning start to life at Norwich, where, in just the first-half of his debut, he provided both a goal and an assist in a comprehensive 2-0 victory at home to strugglers Cardiff City, running the Bluebirds ragged with his creativity, dynamism and directness.

From there, it rightly appeared as though the then-19-year-old had fully vindicated the promise and hype that had surrounded his name after penning a £3m switch from Sao Paulo to Mikel Arteta's Arsenal the previous summer, although his initial bow was very much as good as it ever got.

Indeed, Marquinhos failed to even register another goal contribution before his loan deal expired at the end of the season, by which point the excitement he was accompanied by had firmly dissipated.

Why would Arsenal's Marquinhos be a good signing for QPR?

Irrespective of how Marquinhos fared for Norwich, it is premature and often unwise to write off players who are still so early in their development, which is certainly applicable to the youthful winger.

From both cultural and footballing standpoints, trading Brazil for Britain at such a young age is a monumental leap of faith that requires patience, perseverance and a period of adjustment- Marquinhos was barely 19 when he made the move- so to expect optimal acclimatization after merely a year may have been wishful thinking in hindsight.

As such, wherever he does end up playing his football next season, it will be important to remember and accept that he will not be the finished article just yet, far from it.

But that said, QPR could provide a suitable destination to benefit, project and vindicate his undoubted talent moving forward, with consistency as opposed to natural ability evidently proving the stumbling block at the moment.

Representing Brazil at various youth levels, appearing for Sao Paulo over 40 times at the age of 18 and both featuring and scoring for Arsenal before 20 is no mean feat, and it validates that Marquinhos has a high ceiling of talent and potential- it just needs to be tapped into correctly.

QPR, for all their struggles, have provided a stage for innate forward quality to shine which Ilias Chair and Chris Willock can both testify for, and amid the urgency for additional attacking acquisitions, Marquinhos feels like a punt worth taking.

Chair, who has flourished as one of the division's key creative kingpins over the last few seasons, appeared on Leicester City's transfer radar earlier this summer.

It would come as no surprise to see Enzo Maresca swoop for the Moroccan playmaker later on in the window as he looks to source an adequate James Maddison replacement, whereas Willock's fitness issues mean that strength in depth is a real call of duty for Ainsworth.

Looking at his squad, there are very few players away from the duo who genuinely appear capable of making a lasting impact in the final third, and that is something that they must strive to rectify if they are to stave off the threat of relegation in the 2023/24 season.

And, stylistically speaking, Ainsworth has appeared productively willing to transition away from percentages football last time out to a more expansive, on-the-deck way of playing, with QPR's captivating passage of play during a recent pre-season fixture against Wimbledon earning plaudits for just that.

Naturally, for a direct and technically-adept wide player, this potential fresh modus operandi is hugely advantageous and Ainsworth must look to optimise it not only for Marquinhos, but for any other attack-minded arrivals that he is targeting before transfer deadline day.

Ultimately, Marquinhos does represent a gamble and there is no denying that.

Zooming in from a critical perspective, his Norwich tenure may well suggest that, probability-wise, risk outweighs reward, but with the continuity attached to lasting a full season in the same environment, there is every chance that he could finally stamp his mark upon English football.