Hughes: “Going forward, the ability of the club to attract good young players will improve”

Mark Hughes believes the days of QPR’s youth department struggling to produce young first team players on a regular basis will soon be over.

Rangers will finally return to academy status next season after Steve Gallen’s youth set-up completed their move from Harlington to a new, improved training facility at the Park Club in East Acton.

Not since Richard Langley in 1998 have QPR’s youth sides produced a player who has gone on to make a significant impact.

In that period, they have lost young stars such as Neasden starlet Raheem Sterling, who left QPR for Liverpool in 2010, because their Harlington training ground offered only limited facilities.

However, they are statistics owner Tony Fernandes and chief executive Philip Beard have quickly set about attempting to rectify.

And Rs manager Hughes believes the Premier League’s decision to award the club category two academy status in time for next season represents a landmark moment.

“Sometimes we have lost young players because we didn’t have the facilities to offer them, but that’s going to change,” Hughes told London24.com.

“Over the course of five or 10 years we expect to produce more players because it’s really important to us.

“It’s something that Tony Fernandes is really passionate about and wants to address.

“The guys have done a fantastic job given the circumstances which they have found themselves in.

“Steve Gallen has been excellent in terms of what he’s had to deal with and what little support that he’s had.

“We had a good meeting last week speaking about it, so going forward the ability of QPR to attract good young players will improve I’m sure.”

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