In case you’ve been out and missed the news – or you have just landed from planet Mars (!) – Lee Cook is back permanently!
No more rumours! Cook’s permanent return was announced this afternoon by the official www.QPR.co.uk website.
Cookie has signed a 3 1/2-year deal for an ‘undisclosed’ fee marking the end to an extraordinary period in the 26-year old’s footballing career.
Rangers fans will not forget that Cook was sold to Fulham in summer 2007 to help pay off debts the club owed at that time. To help the club he has supported since his boyhood, Cook even donated back to QPR the signing-on fee he received from Fulham.
Injury hindered Cook’s chances at Fulham and, in January 2008, he was loaned out to Charlton (when a loan deal with QPR looked a possibility).
But, at the end of the 07/08 season, QPR and Fulham reached an agreement on the loan deal that brought the fans’ favourite back to Loftus Road in time for the start of the 08/09 season.
Cook has appeared 26 times for the Rs since returning on loan, scoring 1 goal. He told www.QPR.co.uk: ‘Everyone knows QPR are my Club and I’m delighted to be back here.
‘This club is really going places and I’m just delighted to be part of what we all hope will be a very successful chapter in its history.’
Cook admitted that he felt he was returning to something like his old self now and was very excited about what the rest of this season holds for the Rs.
‘We’re in a great position to mount a charge for promotion and, as a boyhood fan, it would be a dream to get this Club back to where it belongs in the Premier League,’ Lee told the official website.
Paulo Sousa welcomed Lee’s permanent signing, confirming that he sees Cook as ‘an integral part of our future plans…He’s proven at this level, has great quality and gives us excellent options in the attacking third of the pitch,’ the Boss added.
I am sure that everyone involved with QPR will be delighted that this saga has come to such a happy ending – although it is not the end, is it? This is a new beginning for Lee Cook – and we all hope that he gets to show the Premier League what he is really all about after all – but with us now!!
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