QPR will wish they saw more of £8m star who earned £80k-a-week: View | OneFootball

Loic Remy was superb for QPR in his brief time with the club - but they would have liked to see much more of the Frenchman

QPR were left with palpable regret after making numerous big-money signings who failed to deliver between 2011 and 2015, but there was a different kind of disappointment with Loic Remy.

The R's achieved a historic first Premier League promotion in the 2010/11 campaign, prompting a catastrophic two-year transfer splurge - which was reenacted to some extent in 2014/15 - under the ownership of Tony Fernandes.

Evidently ambitious though regrettably, and overwhelmingly reckless, Fernandes sought to lure a batch of big-name, bigger-money signings to Loftus Road, building a squad which may well have been competitive in years gone by but was instead made up of players past their best and with a solitary financial motivation at odds with the club's best interests.

Looking back at some of the names within the squad between 2011 and 2013, it is perhaps no wonder why the club lost so much money on player salaries. Indeed, QPR's accounts from the 2012-13 Premier League season - where they were relegated in 20th-place - showed a wage bill of £78 million at 128% of the club's entire turnover.

With additional losses displayed of £65 million, QPR were left in debt of £177 million after returning to the Championship for the 2013/14 campaign, which was almost double the increase on their £91 million debt in 2012.

From Shaun Wright-Phillips and Christopher Samba to Jose Bosignwa and Julio Cesar - and then the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Mauro Zarate in 2014/15, where QPR failed to learn from their mistakes and finished rock bottom once again - they lacked a coherent, sensible and sustainable strategy.

However, for what it's worth, not every blockbuster arrival in West London at the time proved to be a dud.

£80,000-per week buy Loic Remy was a rare exception to QPR's transfer disasters

The French striker became QPR's club-record signing back in January 2013, joining in a shock £8 million switch from Ligue 1 outift Marseille and agreeing a four-and-a-half-year deal on reported weekly wages of £80,000.

Indeed, Remy was already a contradiction to the ill-fated principle of QPR's recruitment at the time, arriving shortly after undertaking the most productive goalscoring campaign of his career at the age of 26.

While Marseille had no qualms about offloading Remy after he had scored just once from fourteen top-flight appearances in the first-half of the 2012/13 season, his return of 22 goals and eight assists across all competitions in the previous campaign provoked strong reason for excitement at Loftus Road.

Those feelings were vindicated when he opened his account after just 14 minutes in a 1-1 debut draw away at West Ham United, and he went on to find the back of the net on five more occasions that season despite his side's relegation.

However, QPR were never going to be able to have a player of Remy's pedigree and quality in the Championship for more reasons than one. Drastic cost-cutting exercises in the wake of relegation saw the 30-cap former France international head on loan to Newcastle United, and he only ever played two more games for QPR.

QPR will wish they saw more of ex-Newcastle United and Chelsea man Loic Remy

Remy was a fan favourite, simply for being just about the only QPR player to exhibit any genuine quality - and perhaps even salary justification - in that fateful 2012/13 season. He earned the right to remain in the top-flight and was sensational for Newcastle, scoring 14 goals from just 26 appearances.

Frighteningly quick off the mark, strong in the air and blessed with natural goalscoring instincts, Remy was among the finest frontmen in the Premier League during his time with Newcastle and showed exactly why QPR decided to fork out significant wages for his services, even if it did partially contribute to their catastrophic long-term financial damage.

But he was the type of player, unlike most of QPR's 'has-beens', who was worth those kinds of figures. It is a shame, then, that QPR supporters did not see enough of him.

For Remy himself, it is also an equal shame that his career deteriorated after making an ill-fated summer 2015 transfer to Chelsea, who did ensure a transfer profit for QPR by activating the striker's £10.5 million release clause.

Akin to many players who head to Stamford Bridge, Remy was simply part of a squad stockpiling strategy and was never afforded ample opportunity to showcase his talent, with his lack of game time contributing to a decline that plagued him in later years after leaving the club.

Remy left Chelsea on a permanent basis in 2017 to sign for Spanish side Las Palmas and later went on to play for Lille, Rizespor and Adana Demirspor before retiring last year at the age of 36.

During the later stages of his career, he still showed that there was some gas left in the tank but never managed to rekindle his previous form, failing to ever score more than 10 league goals in a single campaign after his loan spell with Newcastle.

He should have enjoyed a stronger career, perhaps even one spent predominantly with leading domestic and continental clubs - such was his talent. At his best, though, Remy was simply phenomenal to watch and QPR supporters will always feel a tinge of disappointment for that privilege being so short-lived.