"The club's best player" - QPR: Big Ilias Chair prediction made ahead of 24/25 season | OneFootball

The creative midfielder could have his best season yet for the West London side

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...

Ilias Chair has been namechecked to be QPR's leading influence on the pitch yet again heading into the 2024/25 Championship campaign.

QPR have enjoyed a recent upturn in fortunes under the fresh tuition of Spanish boss Marti Cifuentes, who has instilled a more patient and progressive possession-based brand of football while endearing himself to the Loftus Road faithful.

Hopes are situated considerably higher than they were this time last year during Gareth Ainsworth's ill-fated reign, with a batch of promising young arrivals indicating the positive current trajectory the club is seemingly taking.

In spite of such change, though, there are some indisputable constants and one of those is the imperious influence of Ilias Chair, who has proved to be QPR's creator-in-chief from attacking-midfield for a number of years and is expected to only improve further next term.

Ilias Chair will be QPR's key player in 24/25

The 13-cap Moroccan international playmaker is not only poised to replicate his previous successes next time around but indeed usurp them and get even better, according to Football League World's QPR fan pundit Louis Moir.

"I think at the moment with the squad as it is, our key player has to be Chair," Louis explained to Football League World.

"Obviously he's improved his game even more under Marti, he's always fit, happy to play as many games as possible and at the end of the day, he's the club's best player.

"He's what we rely on when we shouldn't always because of the times when he's injured, but when he plays everything goes through him. He's capable of scoring great goals, the chances he creates are brilliant and hopefully now with a new striker, if he can put the ball in the back of the net then Chair can get more assists than he has in previous seasons, which hasn't really been his fault.

"You're going to be looking at him in that attacking area where, hopefully overall as a team we do improve, score more goals and create more chances because that's what we've lacked in recent times, so Chair has to be our key man this season going forward.

"It could be a big year for him as well in terms of numbers. He could potentially rack up the best numbers he's ever put up, he's at an age now where he probably should be playing his best football so if he continues to do what he does, he won't just give us a big chance of achieving things but himself as well."

Ilias Chair expectation will be even higher at QPR

Chair has carried QPR through some testing times in recent years, routinely starring despite their flirtation with relegation under Ainsworth. However, the expectation on him will only be even higher now.

Cifuentes has now completed a full pre-season at the club, meaning that his modus operandi is going to be implemented to even greater effect. If all goes well, you'd expect QPR to be performing at a much higher standard and keeping hold of possession more consistently and effectively, which will naturally benefit Chair while adding to the expectation for him to be a continued creative force.

The controversial departure of Chris Willock to Championship rivals Cardiff City on a free transfer will place greater responsibility on Chair too, with the duo having operated in tandem as the two inventive linchpins in the R's side. However, the 26-year-old possesses all the creativity and star quality to continue exerting his influence on this QPR side for years to come - if they can hold onto him for that long.