I think we may have to have a little bit of a rethink.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago saying that QPR needed to show a little bit of caution before sending young Conor Masterson out on loan, and that they needed to make sure they had sufficient cover for him I case the team went through a bit of a crisis at the back, but that I was OK with him going out to get more minutes.
Now I find myself in a position where it’s not impossible for him to get those minutes in the QPR first team rather than at some team further down the leagues.
The 21-year-old defender barely put a foot wrong during the game, earning himself a 7.3 rating from WhoScored.com, making him the third best performer on the QPR team on the day, and earning Man of the Match honours from the club along the way, and this is against a team that are competing for a top two spot in the division.
He was even singled out for praise from QPR boss Mark Warburton after the game:
“Masterson stood up, and there were some very big performances all over the pitch. Today was all about first contact, with crosses delivered at pace and we got there. I was really pleased with our performance to get over the line.”
You know the saying that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it?
Well I think that it’s probably best if we keep things as they are going forward when it comes to the centre-back position. There’s still a few days left for us to make our mind up about if he can be our centre-back of the present, or if he needs to go out on loan somewhere to develop into our centre-back of the future.
And with an FA Cup game coming up this Friday against another Championship side in Sheffield Wednesday, it will act as another great chance to see if he can cut it against a team in this division.
Would you like to see Masterson sent on loan to develop?
Yes
No
What do we really have to lose?
