Queens Park Rangers manager Chris Ramsey is remaining hopeful of keeping star forward Charlie Austin at Loftus Road, despite heavy interest from several Premier League clubs.

Top level interest is high in the centre-forward

West Ham, Leicester City, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa are all reported to have expressed an interest in the striker, who was called up to the England squad for the Three Lions’ internationals last month.

It is believed that the West London side are holding out for a fee of around £15m for Austin. He was the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League last term with 18 goals.

Newcastle and Leicester are both said to have had firm bids rejected by the R’s, but interest is still high in the ex-Burnley and Swindon man, and the Super Hoops hierarchy are expecting more offers to be lodged in the coming weeks.

Ramsey keeping the faith with hot-shot Austin

However, manager Chris Ramsey is still clinging on to hope that he can keep hold of Austin as he hopes to retain his best players with the aim of an instant return to the top flight. "At the moment, he's a QPR player and he's working hard in training.” Ramsey told Sky Sports News.

“I'm having the idea that he will be here into the season. If he is here during the season then he is going to be someone that we want to use."

26-year-old Austin had his second outing of pre-season on Wednesday, in the Hoops' 2-1 victory over Scottish Premier League outfit Dundee United.

And with R’s boss Ramsey revealing that “there has been nothing concrete” in regards to a club’s bid, Austin will be expected to play some part in his team’s friendly in South Wales against League Two Newport County on Sunday.

But with more than six weeks left of the transfer window, Rangers will do well to retain the hot-shot forward after he made a major impact in top division last season.

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About the author
Rhys Tompkins
Aspiring football writer. Football League writer for VAVEL UK.