Queens Park Rangers have been handed a major blow after manager Neil Warnock admitted that he expects captain Adel Taarabt will leave the club this summer.
Taarabt played a huge part in helping the club win promotion to the Premier League last season but has his heart set on leaving Loftus Road and won't be playing a part in helping them stay in the top flight.
Paris St-Germain have already made a £13.5million bid for the 22-year-old midfielder, while
Atletico Madrid are also interested in him.Taarabt also expressed a desire over the summer to join either Chelsea or Arsenal but Warnock believes he is heading back to France because he wants to be closer to his family.
Warnock told Standard Sport: "I'm more inclined into thinking he will be going rather than staying. He has that many advisors and they're all pushing him to leave.
"He said to me at the end of last season that over the final six weeks he had been really down and was tired out as well. He played 44 games and I don't think that he had played more than 20 before.
"The Championship had been so hard and he is missing his family in Marseille. If we get a big offer from a club in France that obviously gives him a chance to be closer to them. That would be a big pull.
"PSG have made an enquiry and they obviously offer him the chance to be nearer to home, although there is a Spanish club being mentioned as well. As far as his talk of wanting to go to Chelsea or Arsenal, I know he has a lot of friends at Arsenal.
"But Flavio Briatore [QPR's co-owner] is dealing with the negotiations. He is keeping me informed of the situation and at this precise moment he won't be leaving because no one has met the asking price.
"I am not sure what that is but we have to take into account that Tottenham will get around 30-40 per cent of it because of what was agreed when we signed him from Spurs last year."
QPR don't begin pre-season training until Thursday and Warnock will still make one last bid to try and change Taarabt's mind.
He was a key part of the team that won the Championship last season, scoring 19 goals and winning Football League Player of the Year.
Warnock added: "Personally, I think he will be better off playing in an environment and under a manager who will persevere with him if he has two or three bad games.
"He has a number of advisors around him and throughout the summer he hasn't had the best advice. You can tell when he walked out of the Morocco squad ahead of the biggest game in their history against Algeria. Sometimes he does things without thinking, he's only a young lad.
"My advice to him is to stay until Christmas, get some experience and show people what he can do.
"That may fall on deaf ears unfortunately. It's sad. I don't think I have ever spent so much time trying to get the best out of one individual and I think he will regret leaving."
Taarabt's departure will hit the Rangers squad hard, particularly as the club have yet to sign any players in the transfer window.
They have tried to get striker Jay Bothroyd and lost out on Peterborough and Scotlandfrontman Craig Mackail-Smith to Brighton.
Peterborough director of football Barry Fry insists QPR's co-owners Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone are to blame for the club's failure to buy any new players.
He said: "I did a deal [for Mackail-Smith] with Neil six weeks ago to be quite honest but Briatore and Ecclestone wouldn't back Neil, he can't even get a free transfer in, he can't even get a tea lady in.
"They're a disgrace. If his owners don't back him Neil can't do anything. He's performed miracles to get QPR into the Premier League. He should have all the backing in the world and he's had none at all."
Mwanwhile, Crystal Palace are ready to pull the plug on their offer to Nottingham Forestfor striker and free agent Robert Earnshaw unless he gives them a positive response this week.
Standard Sport exclusively revealed the first contact made by Palace when manager Dougie Freedman met with Earnshaw and then co-owner Steve Parish confirmed the club's interest.
But there is a feeling that the Wales international is using Palace's offer as a bargaining tool for a new deal with Forest or a move back to his first club Cardiff City, now managed by ex-Watford boss Malky Mackay.
Palace yesterday completed the signing of Fulham's holding midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi, who did well for them on loan last season. Originally it looked as though there could be a swap deal involving Palace striker Wilfried Zahaand cash but now Palace are paying a flat fee of around £600,000.
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