Les Ferdinand tips Darnell Furlong to flourish at West Brom

QPR director of football Les Ferdinand admits the decision to let the 23-year-old right-back leave Loftus Road was far from an easy one.

Furlong signed a four-year contract at Albion last week, an offer of around £1.5million eventually proving too tempting for the London club to turn down.

In a strange twist of fate, Ferdinand was himself at The Hawthorns just a few hours later as he helped to launch the Cyrille Regis Legacy Trust.

And when asked about Furlong, he joked: “I’ve come here to try to take him back!”

Ferdinand believes Furlong has the attitude required to enjoy a successful career and continued: “Darnell did exceptionally well for us but football’s a business where sometimes you sell the players you don’t want to but you have to because of the situation.

“I think he’ll go on and be a success here at West Brom. I said to (QPR boss) Mark Warburton, if we could have 11 characters of Darnell Furlong in our dressing room, we’d be near top of the league, that’s for sure. He’s a down-to-earth footballer who wants to better himself and be the best he can be.”

Furlong, the son of former QPR and Birmingham striker Paul, came through the ranks at Loftus Road and made his first-team debut when still a teenager in the Premier League in March, 2015. He went on to make 72 appearances in all competitions, including 29 last season as the R’s finished 19th in the Championship.

Furlong is among five new recruits at The Hawthorns, with Albion expected to add three or four more before next week’s transfer deadline.

Ferdinand continued: “He’s more a defender than an attacking full-back. He’ll give his all, defend well, he’s great in the air, a great athlete and will get up and down.

“He probably needs to work on his crossing a bit more and I’m sure he will, they’ll take their time to get him where he needs to be.

“He’s still learning but he’s only young and he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”