“Won’t do that much at Cardiff” - Chris Willock slammed after “sideways step” QPR exit | OneFootball

The playmaker has made the move to the Bluebirds after his contract at Loftus Road came to an end

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Cardiff City announced Chris Willock as their first signing of the summer last week, as the former Queens Park Rangers playmaker signed a three-year deal with the Welsh outfit.

The 26-year-old refused to sign a new deal at Loftus Road over the summer, which meant he was available for nothing once his contract came to an end in June, and the Bluebirds swiftly pounced to make him theirs.

The ex-Arsenal and Benfica man had been associated with the Hoops for the previous four years, having made the move from the aforementioned Portuguese outfit in October 2020.

Since then, he has gone on to score 20 goals in 140 league games for the R’s, with eight goal contributions in the previous campaign, as Marti Cifuentes’ side rallied to avoid dropping into the third tier.

Chris Willock’s move to Cardiff City a ‘surprise’ after Queens Park Rangers departure

The move to Wales has come as a surprise to Football League World’s resident QPR fan pundit fan Louis Moir, who thinks the move is a sideways step at best for the creative wide player.

After having the season of dreams in the 2021/22 campaign in which he registered seven goals and 11 assists, Willock’s influence on the R’s side has tailed off of late, as he seemed to have less impact in his role in the final third.

With back-to-back finishes in the bottom six of the Championship, the Arsenal youth product made the decision to move on from West London this summer, with the writing on the wall for quite some time.

But it is the final destination that has come as a shock to Moir, who expected to see the former Huddersfield Town loanee have higher aspirations after leaving Rangers behind.

The Hoops fan told FLW:“I’m not surprised with Willock, the longer it went on I think you could sense that it wasn’t going to happen.

“I must admit I’m slightly surprised to see that he’s chosen Cardiff for probably a bit more money. That’s pretty poor from him to turn down what we’ve got going at QPR at the moment.

“Can you see Cardiff having a better season than us this season? Probably not. I think it is a bit of a sideways step, and I think it shows that maybe he doesn’t have that ambition himself.

“To be fair, he’s been a cracking player for us, but since his injury he hasn’t been the same, and you could swap it and think that if we did come to an agreement with him, and he got another injury, then it would be a disaster.

“At the end of the day it’s not one to lose sleep over, it’s a shame how it worked out, obviously not getting any money for him, but it’s one of them.”

Chris Willock, QPR relationship could be in tatters after Cardiff City switch

The decision to move to a divisional rival with similar aspirations to their own seems to have rankled Moir, who believes R’s fans won’t let his decision to part ways be forgotten.

QPR make the trip to the Welsh capital in November this year, and the Rangers supporter thinks the travelling support will be making their thoughts known to the departing playmaker if he takes to the field.

Moir continued: “He won’t do that much at Cardiff, I’m sure, and I think it’ll be interesting to see the reception he gets when we play them, because I don’t think it will be nice.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the money, isn’t it? So it’s a very strange move on his part, but we’ve got to move on and hopefully we get an even better replacement coming in.

“It’s a shame how it worked out, but we move on.”