How QPR spared their transfer blushes with bizarre Chris Samba deal | OneFootball

Christopher Samba joined QPR in January 2013 for big money on big wages, but it didn't quite go to plan.

Christopher Samba joined Queens Park Rangers in January 2013 on deadline day in a hugely expensive deal, as manager Harry Redknapp aimed to bolster his defence.

In the 2011/12 season, QPR just about scraped survival in the Premier League, finishing one point above Bolton Wanderers in 18th place.

Manager Mark Hughes arrived at the West London club in January 2012 and managed to keep the club afloat, being tasked with rebuilding it for the upcoming season.

In came Esteban Granero, Stephane Mbia and Ji-sung Park to name a few, but after an abysmal start to the season with no wins in 12 league matches, Hughes was sacked in November and replaced by Redknapp.

The English manager sought to change QPR's fortunes and turn their season around by splashing out on players in January, with Loic Remy joining for big money from Marseille for a club-record fee, which was then broken just two weeks later as Samba joined from Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala for £12.5 million.

Christopher Samba's time at QPR didn't go to plan

The then-28-year-old signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Loftus Road on a reported £100,000-a-week wage, putting him firmly among the highest earners the club has ever had.

However, despite his wage, Samba didn't help to boost the backline as Redknapp and QPR fans would have hoped.

The 26-time Republic of the Congo international played just 10 games for the Hoops, only tasting victory on two occasions with back-to-back wins over Southampton and Sunderland.

That was as good as it got for Samba in West London, as following a 3-2 defeat away at Fulham, where he gave away a penalty in the first half, he received heavy criticism from QPR fans on social media, who weren't happy with his performance in reflection of his wages.

Samba fired back at fans via X (Twitter at the time), saying, "Fed up with the money tweets, get over it."

He added, "I am sorry I let the side down, really upset with my first-half performance. Tell me what is a £100k performance? See everyone talking about mistakes, like footballers cannot have an off day on the pitch. We are human like all of you. Grow up some of you, please."

From there, Samba's relationship with supporters was broken, and he would go on to play just three more times for the club before not appearing in any of the club's final four matchday squads, as QPR were relegated in last place.

QPR were spared the embarrassment of Chris Samba deal

Following relegation from the Premier League, a substantial number of players left the club, largely on free transfers or loans, but not Samba.

Anzhi were keen to bring Samba back to Russia, and struck a deal worth £12 million that enabled the Hoops to part ways with the defender, recouping the majority of the fee that they had paid for him just six months earlier.

Though QPR will no doubt regret the deal to bring Samba to the club in the first place, they would have been relieved that Anzhi were so keen to re-sign the defender, as he otherwise could've gone down as one of the club's all-time most costly transfer misses.

Anzhi had made the ambitious signings of Samuel Eto'o, Willian and Roberto Carlos around that time too, with Samba being another huge money signing from the Russian outfit, though the club ceases to exist today after dissolving in 2022 after failing to gain the necessary license to compete.

QPR will never be able to reclaim the wages paid to Samba during his time with the club, nor will they change the fate of their relegation.

However, they will feel that they dodged a bullet in Samba's saga at the club.