Championship side Queens Park Rangers have agreed a deal with Chelsea for the free transfer of young attacker Harvey Vale.
The Championship side are set to offer the 21-year-old a three-and-a-half year contract, who has spent time on loan at Hull City and Bristol Rovers in the past two seasons.
His contract with the Premier League giants was set to expire in the summer and they have included a sell-on clause and bonuses in the deal, as reported by the Daily Mail’s Kieran Gill.
New beginning for the youngster
Since making his professional debut for the Blues in 2021, Vale has struggled to make an impression in the Premier League side’s senior team.
Five domestic cup appearances in 2021/22 were followed by a loan to Championship side Hull City, where he only played three times in four months before being recalled.
The next summer saw him make another temporary move, this time to League One Bristol Rovers. During his time at the Gas, Vale was used in an unfamiliar left-back position but earned praise from then-manager Joey Barton who compared him to former Chelsea defender Ashley Cole.
Since returning to the Blues’ this season, he has made two first-team appearances in the Europa Conference League as well as three for the under-21 side in the EFL Trophy. He as also impressed in the Premier League 2, contributing three goals and five assists in seven games.
A permanent move to QPR may enable Vale to settle into a new environment without wondering where he will be playing the following season for the first time in his career.
Despite being unproven in the second tier, the youngster has shown that if given the chance to play regularly in senior football he can impress with his performances.
He should benefit from working under Rangers manager Martí Cifuentes, who has already shown his desire to develop young players with his signings this season.
Where might Vale fit into the Hoops’ team?
QPR are currently 13th in the Championship and are still in a transition period under Cifuentes, who took over in October 2023 when they were second bottom of the league.
He steered them to survival last season and has improved their position this campaign with four wins in their last five games.
The Spaniard has consistently used a 4-2-3-1 formation, which will allow Vale to slot into one of the three attacking positions behind the lone striker.
However, he may find starting opportunities hard to come by in the near future due to the side’s depth in attacking areas and their recent good form.
Capable of playing in the three attacking positions are Ilias Chair, Paul Smyth, Koki Saito, Kieran Morgan, Daniel Bennie, Yang Min-hyeok and Karamoko Dembele, who is scheduled to return from a knee injury at the end of February.
Chair has been one of QPR’s standout players in recent seasons and has started their last six games, assisting three times, so is almost guaranteed to start when fit.
The other players have made less of an impact on the pitch so Vale will set his sights on pushing them out of the side to make his own mark.
Cifuentes’ squad rebuild
As previously mentioned, Cifuentes has focused on young players when rebuilding his squad this season, with a mix of permanent and temporary transfers, so Vale will not be the only promising talent at Loftus Road.
Since the end of last season, 12 of the 14 players to join the club have been under 25-years-old. In comparison, nine of the 17 players to depart have been 25 or older.
This shows a clear desire from the head coach to bring in talented young players and give them a chance to impress and showcase their ability.
Morgan (18), Bennie (18), Liam Morrison (21), Jonathan Varane (22), Hevertton (23), Nicolas Madsen (24) and Nathan Sheppard (24) have all signed permanent deals with the London club. Cifuentes has also brought in five loanees (Dembele, Edwards, Min-hyeok, Ashby and Saito) who have an average age of 21.
However, he has made sure that his side also has experience in it, which is vital in achieving their aim of a play-off position in the next 18 months.
Goalkeeper Paul Nardi, defender Steve Cook and Morgan Fox, midfielders Jack Colback and Lucas Andersen and striker Michael Frey are all over 30-years-old and will be able to help the younger players to improve different areas of their game.
With QPR on a good run of form and only six points outside the play-offs, it would not come as a shock if they went on a late charge into the top six, with Vale hoping to play a big role.