Charlton Athletic got by far the better end of £2m QPR transfer - his career never took off | OneFootball

Queens Park Rangers signed a striker from Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2020.

Charlton Athletic undoubtedly got the better end of the deal that saw Macauley Bonne sign for Queens Park Rangers during the summer transfer window in 2020.

QPR made multiple bids to sign the striker following Charlton's relegation to League One at the end of the 2019/20 season, before finally completing a deal to sign him for a fee of around £2 million in October 2020.

Lee Bowyer, who was the Addicks' boss at the time, discussed the deal in an interview with London News Online at the time.

"It's a great deal for the club," said Bowyer.

"It's good business - something we couldn't turn down."

Charlton got the better end of QPR, Bonne deal

Given the way that Bonne's career has panned out since he left Charlton for QPR, there is no doubt that the South Londoners got the better end of the £2 million deal that saw him move to Loftus Road.

The Addicks only spent £200,000 to sign Bonne from Leyton Orient in the summer of 2019, and they never would have envisaged that they were going to sell him for 10 times that amount just over a year later.

Bonne scored 11 goals in 33 Championship appearances during his only season in SE7, which was not enough to save Charlton from relegation, but it was enough to convince QPR to bring him to West London.

Unfortunately for the Rs, Bonne only managed to score three goals in 44 appearances for the club, before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in January 2023.

He returned to The Valley on a free transfer just over a week later, but he only scored twice during the remainder of the season, and his short-term deal was not extended beyond the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

The 29-year-old played for Gillingham and Cambridge United the following season, but he was released once again by the U's having scored just one goal for the club.

Bonne ended up back in non-league

When Charlton signed Bonne after he had fired Leyton Orient to promotion from the National League in 2019, he would probably not have expected to be back in non-league five years later.

However, that is the way things have turned out, as he is currently turning out for Southend United.

He has struggled for goals during his time with the Shrimpers so far, having only scored once at this stage of the season, and the club are currently struggling to stay within touching distance of the play-off places.

Since his contract at QPR was terminated by mutual consent just over two years ago, Bonne has dropped from the Championship to the National League and scored just eight league goals in the process.

Looking back, it is difficult to argue against the fact that Charlton were the clear winners of their deal with QPR, as they made a significant profit from his sale, Bonne struggled to make an impact at Loftus Road, and he returned to The Valley for free a couple of years later anyway.

The decision to sign Bonne for around £2 million is one that QPR lived to regret.