Queens Park Rangers have now entered pole position in the race for an "unbelievable" player, who is set to be available for around £2m this summer.

Stephan happy with QPR's "foundations" ahead of next season

QPR endured a difficult end to the campaign, losing their final four Championship matches, which meant they ultimately finished in 15th place, 11 points clear of the bottom three and 15 points adrift of the play-off places.

However, manager Julien Stephan believes the "foundations" are in place for his side to kick on in the 2026-27 campaign, saying: "It was a season with a lot of ups and downs, I think like many, many teams in this league, but the main thing is I don't know which is the level of this group.

"So it was a strong experience and it's really important now to think about the future. It's a good project, good fans, good management, good mentality into the dressing room, so we have some good foundations."

That said, one position in which Stephan may need to strengthen is goalkeeper, as the manager opted to rotate between Paul Nardi, Ben Hamer and Joe Walsh throughout the campaign, with all three players struggling to hold down a consistent place in the starting XI.

QPR now leading race to sign new goalkeeper

According to journalist Alan Nixon (via Football League World), QPR have now moved into pole position in the race for Wigan Athletic goalkeeper Sam Tickle, with Stephan very keen on improving his options between the sticks this summer.

There are signs a deal may be possible too, with Wigan prepared to cash-in for a fee of around £1.5m - £2m, as the Latics aren't in a strong negotiating position, having become a consistent bottom half of the table League One team.

The Warrington-born shot-stopper still has just over two years remaining on his Wigan contract, having penned a four-year deal back in May 2024, around which time he received major plaudits from former manager Shaun Maloney.

Maloney said: “Some of our young players have done so well, but Sam is now an England Under-21 international, and you look at some of the other goalkeepers there. One (James Trafford) went to Burnley to Manchester City for an enormous fee, others are playing at the top level, so I get the noise that's around him, and it's really positive.

"He's a brilliant goalkeeper and a brilliant guy... what he's done here in the last 12 months is unbelievable really."

Tickle went on to make one appearance for England U21s, and he featured in every single League One game for Wigan in the 2025-26 campaign, picking up 13 clean sheets, with an average FotMob match rating of 7.04 placing him third in the squad.

With that in mind, Tickle could now be ready to test himself at Championship level.

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