Transfer news: Chelsea defender Jake Clarke-Salter signs for Championship side Queens Park Rangers
Championship side Queens Park Rangers have signed former Chelsea defender Jake Clarke-Salter on a free transfer, the club announced. The former England U-21 captain, Jake has signed a four-year deal at Loftus Road as per the club’s official website.
The 24-year-old centre-back joined QPR after being released by Chelsea this summer. A product of the famed Chelsea academy, Cobham, he could not manage to break into the first team, although he did play for Chelsea Youth, U-18 and U-21 sides.
A considerable talent, the Englishman spent most of his career on loan at different clubs, amassing a lot of experience and playing time. His previous loan spells include clubs like Bristol Rovers, Sunderland, Vitesse, Birmingham City and Coventry City. He made a total of 2 appearances for the Chelsea first team.
A good move for QPR and Chelsea?
Jake becomes the first signing of the summer for Michael Beale, QPR’s manager. He had previously worked under him during his development years.
The up-and-coming defender was very pleased to have joined the Championship side. This move is his first permanent switch after a number of loan spells, and he can’t wait to get started.
“I am over the moon. It’s a permanent deal and it’s time for me to settle down and progress in my career. It’s totally different to a loan move because this is my home and I am fully focused on doing great things with this club”.
Queens Park Rangers website
The Hoops will be delighted by his signing, as the player has played in the Championship before. Also having worked with the manager previously is always a good sign, as it shows the manager might give him his trust to start games.
Having been promoted to the senior squad in 2018, Jake never really got the chance to showcase his talent to the Blues faithful. He spent his entire senior career up to now at different clubs. This shows that he failed to gain the trust of the Chelsea management and this was a win-win move for both sides.
Now that he has moved on a permanent transfer, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to show his talent. If all goes good for him, he might even play for a Premier League side in the future or maybe help his side get promoted.
As for Chelsea, they would hope they don’t repeat the same mistake they did with Marc Guehi and Fikayo Tomori last summer. If the Blues even managed to retain one of those players, our potential defensive crisis this summer could have been cushioned to a great extent.
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But then again, Clarke-Salter perhaps did not showcase that level of talent. Guehi, meanwhile, is a star for Crystal Palace while Tomori helped AC Milan win their first Scudetto since the 2010/11 season.
At 24, the now QPR defender was running out of time and perhaps past the age where our club would have wanted to be patient with him and wait for him to develop into a first-team regular.
