"Doing everything right" - QPR: Marti Cifuentes' best young player named | OneFootball

Rayan Kolli has been a key player in recent weeks for the Hoops

Queens Park Rangers youngster Rayan Kolli has been named as the club's most exciting prospect right now, after some impressive recent performances that have seen him become one of Marti Cifuentes' go-to attackers to lead the Hoops away from relegation danger.

London-born Kolli is a winger by trade, but has been playing as a centre-forward for the R's in the last few weeks, and has now become a key man for the club despite starting the season largely out-of-favour and not in the first-team squad.

The 19-year-old has been on Rangers' books since the age of eight, and made his senior debut for the club last August, but had only featured fleetingly since then before coming back into the squad in the last few weeks, amid rumours of a fall-out with boss Cifuentes.

Algerian youth international Kolli has registered three goals and one assist in his last five outings for the Hoops, after he had featured twice in the first three league games of the season, then was surprisingly dropped from the squad for nine games between August and November.

His recent form, which includes a brace off the bench against Norwich City on December 7, has clearly coincided with QPR's sharp upturn in results, which has seen them win four and lose just one of their last seven games to move up to 17th in the second-tier standings.

Kolli's contract at Loftus Road is up at the end of this season, but FLW's Hoops fan pundit, Louis Moir, has urged the club to resolve any potential disputes over a new deal with the 19-year-old, and has labelled him as the club's best youngster right now.

“The obvious answer has to be Rayan Kolli. He is, by far, the club’s best young prospect," Louis told FLW.

“It’s nice to see someone who has been at the club for a very long time, since they were really young, hopefully becoming an actual sellable asset in the future for us, and someone who you can say has come through the youth system.

“He did himself wonders against Norwich, scoring two goals. He’s been fortunate, as with the other strikers being out injured, we had no one else to lead the line.

“He’s been thrown in and has done well. If you look at his actual goal involvements for us in the Championship, either starting or coming on, he is doing very well.

“Obviously he has still got a long way to go to be a top player, but for him at the moment, at his age, he is doing everything right. He’s still only 19.

“There has to be some sort of situation resolved with him and the club regarding a new contract, because we can’t afford to be letting him go, or any silly business like that.

“If he kicks on and develops like he could, then he could be the next player we sell on for quite a lot of money.

“He’s got that sort of technical ability as an attacking midfielder, wide player and striker. He has got something about him.

“You’ve just got to unlock that further and hope that he kicks on. He’s doing everything right at the moment, and it’s really exciting to have him at the club.”

Rayan Kolli has earned high praise from Marti Cifuentes after time out in the cold

Kolli's form has taken many R's fans by surprise, despite him being so highly-rated, as he has been used more centrally than in his usual wide position, but it is working for boss Cifuentes, and he will hope it continues to work as the R's gradually move away from the bottom three.

He was handed his first chance as the main striker at Loftus Road this season against Norwich after Zan Celar went off early due to injury, and repaid the faith put in him by bagging twice either side of half-time to put the Canaries to the sword and score his first goals in senior football.

Cifuentes was full of praise for his impressive young talent in the aftermath of that Norwich win, which set his side on the way to more key victories over Oxford United and Preston North End in the weeks that followed, which saw Kolli bag two more goal contributions.

he said, via Sky Sports.

"He's a talented player and since I came here we tried to give him some opportunities and he unfortunately picked up injuries last season.

"Then this season some things have been slowing the process of him getting minutes again. Today he got a chance and football is about being in the right place at the right moment.

"He must understand what is required to take the next step to be a pro footballer and to play at this level."

Cifuentes has remained coy over the reasoning behind Kolli's previous absence from the matchday squad for nearly three months, but whether or not it was to do with his contract situation, it certainly looks to have been resolved now, given his recent exploits.

The 19-year-old is still yet to sign a new deal at Loftus Road though, and it is absolutely imperative that the R's are able to tie his long-term future at the club down so he can continue to shine and then possibly fetch a sizeable fee when sold on in the future.