With Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson out injured, Harry Redknapp has moved to secure the services of Uruguayan veteran Javier Chevanton on a short term deal.
Former Uruguay international Javier Chevanton was released by Italian Lecce after a third spell with the club at the end of last season.
He began his career in his homeland - he has 22 caps and seven goals for his country — with local side Danubio with whom he bagged 49 goals in 57 appearances.
That sparked interest in Europe and he arrived for a first spell with then Serie A side Lecce as a 21 year old in 2001. Sadly his 12 goals in 27 appearances were not enough to prevent a relegation into Serie B but he netted 18 in 30 appearances at the lower level to help fire the team straight back at the first attempt.
He was the fourth top scorer in Serie A in 2003/04 with 19 goals, behind only Andriy Shevchenko (24), Alberto Gilardino (23) and Francesco Totti (20).
He moved to Monaco in 2004 but his first campaign was beset by injuries, and he managed just ten goals in 2005/06 — although he was still the club’s leading scorer.
Despite frequent knee problems will playing in France he moved to Sevilla in La Liga at the start of the 2006/07 season for a fee reported in the region of €8M, signing a five year contract. He scored four goals in the Europa League before opening his domestic account against Real Madrid in December in a 2-1 victory.
As fitness worries and age has caught up with him his appearances have become more sporadic and his moves more frequent. Two further spells with Lecce came either side of a stint with Argentinean side Colón de Santa Fe and he also spent time on loan at Italian side Atalanta. He scored ten times in 16 appearances for Lecce last season in the third tier of Italian football, where they’d been demoted after the country’s match fixing scandal.
He has penned a three month deal at Loftus Road after training with the R’s for the last few weeks.
"With the injuries we’ve had to Bobby and AJ, we’re really short of options in that department. Javier has spent time with us and integrated into the group very well. He arrives with a good pedigree and gives us a much-needed extra option in attack.” -Harry Redknapp
"I am very happy to be here, working with a good manager like Harry Redknapp, for a team which is currently top of the Championship with huge ambitions to return to the Premier League. I am really looking forward to the challenge of playing in England. I have scored goals all around Europe and I am confident I can continue that record with QPR. When I was younger, I loved watching English football. The atmosphere here is great and when the chance came to join QPR, it was all I wanted. I have a great will-to-win and I can’t wait to do my best for the club and fall in love with the fans.” - Javier Chevanton
It would be tempting to slap your forehead in mock-shock at all of this. What do you mean Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson are both injured? Knock me down the tallest flight of stairs in the city with the smallest feather you can find.
The reason neither Andy Johnson nor Bobby Zamora are no longer at Fulham is because they are frequently injured, and a long way past their best when fully fit. It's the reason QPR were mental for entrusting the pair to score them the goals required for Premier League survival, and a big part of why that aim failed so spectacularly, but probably the only reason either would have considered joining QPR. To try and rely on them, both another year old, to fire the R's back to the big time this season brings to mind the old definition of insanity: if it didn't work the previous dozen times you tried it, chances are it won't now either.
So in a way having to go out and bring in a 33-year-old striker on a free transfer as cover for the pair of them just two months into the season is just another example of the club having to take its medicine for many past mistakes.
It's also a further indictment on QPR's continued policy of player recruitment as opposed to player development. Every problem that comes up has to be solved by another new player, rather than a player that the club has already paid money for and to.
It didn't need a trip to Yeovil on Saturday to bring home just how wide the gap is between the haves and have nots in this league, but an afternoon at Huish Park should certainly have highlighted the situation further. Yeovil Town could never in a million years afford the transfer fee and wages to bring in one of Andy Johnson, Bobby Zamora and Charlie Austin. The idea of having all three, and being able to go out and sign a player like Chevanton when two of them get injured, would be incredible to them. For the vast majority of teams in this league, losing two of Austin, Zamora and Johnson to injury would be tough shit, to QPR it's merely a cue to dip back into the transfer market.
Rangers do have the players to cope without additions. The squad at their disposal already lends itself far more to a system with one striker — which Charlie Austin showed at the weekend he's more than capable of being — and five midfielders rather than a conventional two man forward line. The R's have more midfielders than they know what to do with — again, most teams in this league would laugh at the idea of being able to take out Joey Barton, Karl Henry and Shaun Wright-Phillips and bring in Tom Carroll, Jermaine Jenas and Armand Traore. Then there's Ale Faurlin, Niko Kranjcar, Matt Phillips, Junior Hoilett and on and on and on it goes. It's the dictionary definition of an embarrassment of riches for the level QPR are playing at and it's more than enough to muddle through while Johnson gets fit again.
Then there's the fact that the short term signing of a 33-year-old pushes the up and coming junior players at QPR further down the pecking order. What must Tom Hitchcock, who has done nothing but score for the EDS squad in pre-season and the start of this campaign, and already has a first team goal to his name this season, be thinking today? At most other clubs injuries to two of the three senior strikers would see him thrown in, but then this isn't most other clubs.
But then, to be fair to Harry Redknapp and QPR, this could turn out to be a shrewd move with few risks. Redknapp brought neither Zamora nor Johnson to Loftus Road , and has little hope of getting rid of either of them. Zamora wouldn't pass the physical for life insurance never mind another football club and the one sniff of interest in Johnson at the end of the transfer window was eagerly seized upon but came too late for a replacement to be loaned in.
It's certainly not Redknapp's choice to start the season with those two as his only options bar Austin. What would be really gratuitous is if QPR had signed a couple more strikers on top of them, leaving Johnson and Zamora kicking their heels on God knows how much a week. The fact the rest of the division can’t afford such luxuries is not a reason for QPR to turn down the chance if they can — we’re not working with a golf handicap system here.
And while Tom Hitchcock has looked promising, he's a product of a system at QPR that, as I've said before, isn't conducive to producing first team talent — given the standard of opposition it plays at youth and reserve level — and throwing kids in too early and too often helps neither them nor the team. Hitchcock is no child at 21, but he's learning his trade and was previously released by Blackburn, and not even selected to start every week while on loan at Bristol Rovers last season. One close range strike against Ipswich doth not a great white hope make.
If Charlie Austin were to get injured this weekend then QPR would be left with nothing, so the chance to bring in a very experienced striker with a decent goal scoring record in some of Europe's best leagues, for free, on a short term contract, looks like a bit of a no brainer.
In many ways not automatically handing out a three year deal to an ageing, injury prone player might suggest QPR have learnt a lesson or two. Baby steps.
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