QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand insists he never had any doubt in his mind that Sebastian Polter would come good at Loftus Road, insisting there is a lot more to come from the German striker.

The writing looked on the wall for Polter, who signed from FSV Mainz last July, after a miserable first few months in W12 - where he was well out-of-favour under Chris Ramsey.

However, since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was handed the reins last December, the 25-year-old has looked a different player and continues to go from strength to strength - something which hasn’t surprised Ferdinand.

He told the Times: “No, I always had faith Seb would come good.

“We went through a period where we bought established players who had established themselves in the Premier League.

“We have to understand that we’re not really in that position anymore. We’re trying to bring players in who we know we’re going to develop.

“When I brought Seb in I said:‘He’s 24 years of age, he’s coming out of the second division in Germany, he needs to understand that Championship and will get better’.

“So I’m not surprised by how well he’s done and I think he can get even better with time.

“We’re in development mode. We talk about (Jake) Bidwell and (Jordan) Cousins; they’re not the finished articles either, so there’s a lot more to come from them, too.

“The potential we’ve brought in is very promising - there’s a hell of a lot of it in the squad.

“The fans should be very excited about that all coming together.”

Another player Ferdinand maintains will be an asset for QPR in time is Conor Washington.

The 24-year-old is yet to find the net for the Rs in the league since joining from Peterborough for £3m in January.

But despite that Ferdinand has been encouraged with his recent form and remains hopeful he will be a success at Loftus Road.

Rangers received approaches for Washington from Brentford, Blackburn and Reading on deadline day, but Ferdinand insists the club didn’t even contemplate letting the striker leave the club.

He added: “Not for me. I think you always need competition for places. I know at the moment everyone sees it as a 4-4-1-1 scenario. Can he play in that? Yes.

“Sam Allardyce talked about Jermain Defoe – people said he couldn’t play in that role and last season he did it for Sunderland. It can be done can’t it?

“Will Jimmy persist with that? He may have to change the system from time to time to suit the way we want to play and the way the opposition play us.

“I think Conor has a big future at this club, I have absolutely no doubt about that. It’s been a slow start for him, but he’s got to keep his chin up and got to keep going and show us what he’s capable of doing.”