QPR were stung by Peterborough United transfer deal in 2016: View | OneFootball

After relegation from the Premier League in 2015, their second relegation from the top flight within the space of three seasons, Queens Park Rangers were looking once again to gain promotion out of the Championship.

The R’s were looking to shy away from their approach of signing older players who were past their best and on higher wages, focusing on signing players from within the EFL.

On New Year’s Day of 2016, QPR sat in 15th place and were closer to the relegation places than they were to the play-off places.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was in charge having replaced Chris Ramsey, who was sacked in November 2015, and had a big job on his hands to get them fighting towards the top of the table.

In January 2016, QPR looked to replicate what other sides had done in poaching strikers from Peterborough United, who had a proven track record of producing strikers that they then sold on for a big profit to teams above them in the football pyramid.

Gary Mackail-Smith, Dwight Gayle and Britt Assombalonga were all strikers who had done well with Posh before moving on.

QPR looked to be one of the clubs that signed one of Peterborough’s star strikers. However, the move they went for did not go too well.

Conor Washington was prolific at Peterborough

Conor Washington was a then 23-year-old who had signed for Peterborough in January 2014 from Newport County.

The Northern Ireland international had scored 13 goals in 40 League One games in the 14/15 campaign and had tried to go better in the 15/16 season. In the first half of the 15/16 campaign, he scored ten goals in 25 League One games, which attracted interest in the January transfer window.

QPR were in desperate need of a striker after they sold Charlie Austin to Southampton for £4 million, who had scored ten goals in 16 Championship games up until his departure.

Washington was then brought in as a direct replacement for Austin, signing from Peterborough in January 2016 for a fee of between £2.5 million and £3 million.

However, Washington’s time at QPR did not go as well as anyone would have expected.

In the second half of the 15/16 campaign, he failed to score a single goal in 15 Championship appearances.

The 16/17 season saw him finally score his first goals in the Championship for QPR, scoring seven goals in 40 appearances. His first came in a 2-1 win away at bitter rivals Fulham.

The next season of 17/18 was slightly worse, scoring just six times in 34 appearances in the league. Two of those came on the opening weekend, scoring both in a 2-0 win over Reading.

The start of the 18/19 season would spell Washington’s last games in a blue and white shirt. He played in the first four games of the season failing to score, before having his contract cancelled by mutual consent at the end of August 2018.

This allowed him to join Sheffield United, where he was for a year. Spells at Hearts, Charlton Athletic and Rotherham United would follow, and he now finds himself in League One with Derby County at the age of 31.

Overall, though, in his two-and-a-half years in London, Washington completely failed to live up to the price tag, and will not be remembered fondly by most at Loftus Road.