QPR midfielder Jordan Cousins says he relishes the time when he can switch off from football, admitting that he likes to keep himself to himself in his spare time.

The 22-year-old, who joined the Rs from Charlton Athletic in the summer, says he makes the most of his time off so he is fully refreshed and raring to go for when he plays.

He told the Times: “I live a very quiet life, it’s just me and my dog at home, nothing major at all.

“As soon as I’m out of the training ground and get home I try to switch off from football, as it is a very intense environment to be part of.

“Outside of the game I just like to keep it real with the family and take the dog for walks – just keeping everything pretty simple.

“It’s 100 miles per hour when you come here [the training ground] so I need to take a back seat and relax when I have my time off.

“I like the simple things, nothing too extravagant – that’s just me.

“I just like to keep it nice, quiet and family orientated, so when I come into football I’m full of rest and energy, so I’m ready to go.

“As a footballer you can’t be out all the time and live a crazy life, otherwise it definitely affects your football career.”

Cousins says he has seen many waste their undoubted potential – some, in his own words, with much more talent than him. But he says attitude and application is a key component in all of that.

He added: “I’ve seen it a lot. That’s the main message I give to kids when I go into schools to give talks and that. There’s a lot of players I’ve seen who have been a lot more talented than me, but because they didn’t have the right mindset and didn’t focus on what they had to do to progress, they didn’t make it.

“It gets to a stage where coaches aren’t looking at the most talented, but the people who are going to work hard and improve – that’s when the so-called talented players fade away.”

He continued: “There’s only a certain amount of times you can tell people in life. You hear senior players advising the younger ones all the time – it’s up to them if they want to take the advice and act on it.

“Obviously people tell young players not to go out partying loads and choose your friends wisely, but some people don’t want to follow that and do what they want.

“You have to let them live their own life and make their own decisions at the end of the day.”