What is happening with Jimmy Dunne's QPR contract amid Sheffield United interest? | OneFootball

Sheffield United wanted to sign Jimmy Dunne from QPR in the summer. Rangers blocked the move, so with Dunne's contract running out, here's the latest.

The future of Queens Park Rangers defender Jimmy Dunne remains up in the air, with the end of the 2024/25 season now having come about.

Queens Park Rangers finished the season in 15th place in the Championship.

Manager Marti Cifuentes was placed on gardening leave at the end of April following reports that he had been in contact with West Bromwich Albion about their vacant managerial position.

This, however, did not come to pass.

West Brom ended up going with Ryan Mason as their new head coach, and Cifuentes remains in limbo, still technically the QPR head coach, but it would appear vanishingly unlikely to take charge of the team again.

It has already been reported that the recently sacked Norwich manager Johannes Hoff Thorup has already turned down the opportunity to take over at Loftus Road next season.

Sheffield United, meanwhile, are still coming to terms with the disappointment of losing their Championship play-off final to Sunderland and have work to do to rebuild ahead of another assault on promotion next season.

Sheffield United are still very interested in Dunne

Journalist Alan Nixon reported on the 25th May that Sheffield United's interest in Dunne hasn't gone away.

The Blades had tried to sign him in the January transfer window, only to see the move blocked by QPR, even though the player had only six months to run on his contract at the time.

Wilder has long been an admirer of Dunne, and Nixon reported that "Dunne will be free to join the Blades and give them a senior centre half for next season."

There's no question that Dunne had an impressive season with Queens Park Rangers last time around, even though the team's overall performance wasn't as good.

Rangers very much want to keep Dunne at Loftus Road

Queens Park Rangers, however, do not seem to have given up retaining Dunne's services for next season just yet.

West London Sport reported that Rangers were negotiating with four players whose contracts expire this summer over a new contract, and that Dunne was among them.

While there may be questions to ask about whether Dunne would consider moving to Bramall Lane an 'upgrade' in any way, the cost of his wages will also be an issue. Capology estimate his wages on the contract that is about to expire at £8,500 a week.

Sheffield United, still flush with parachute payment money from the Premier League, could likely afford a substantial increase on that, but could Queens Park Rangers?

They could have room for movement. Capology indicate that Dunne is nowhere near the highest wage-earner at Loftus Road, with ten players listed as earning more than him.

Furthermore, some of those higher earners are out of contract as well there this summer. Jack Colback is out of contract, and his position is up in the air; he's another one of the four with whom Rangers are negotiating new deals, alongside Dunne.

But one obvious saving that the club could have made has already passed them by. Steve Cook's £30,000-a-week contract was due to expire this summer, but the club exercised their option to extend it in April.

Cook is an excellent player, and clearly very important to Rangers, but they could have doubled Dunne's money and still had £13,000-a-week to play with, had they not renewed it.

If Queens Park Rangers can't match Sheffield United's offer to Dunne in monetary terms, it won't be because there was nothing they could do to accommodate any realistic wage demands. The Blades can still offer the prospect of a crack at promotion to the Premier League, and they have the weight of those parachute payments behind them.

With their managerial position unclear and having finished 15th in the table last season, QPR are going to need some persuasive negotiations if they're to persuade Dunne to stay at Loftus Road rather than heading north for the new season.