Les Ferdinand says QPR have given Steven Caulker 'as much support as possible'

Troubled: Caulker has been signed off ill
Getty Images
Simon Johnson4 July 2017

QPR director of football Les Ferdinand has defended the club’s treatment of Steven Caulker and insists they have always put his health first.

Caulker revealed last week that he has been struggling with a gambling and drinking problem for several years. He also admitted to having suicidal thoughts last December and is not training with the first-team squad because he has been signed off on sick leave. The 25-year-old has just one year remaining on his contract but is not expected to play again for QPR, who tried to sell him to Lokomotiv Moscow in January.

Speaking to Standard Sport, Ferdinand said: “Steven has been a troubled boy and has had a few problems, which he has spoken candidly about. At the moment he is signed off ill. We don’t know when he will be ready to come back. He will inform us of that.

“We have handled the situation like any club would. We have tried to help Steven as much as we can. We have recommended people for him to see to help him. If a player has problems, then they’re our problems as well.”

QPR paid Cardiff £8m for Caulker in 2014 but are unlikely to be able to sell him during this window.

Ferdinand added: “If you look at his record over the past few years, he’s not played much and when you’re not playing, you’re not in the shop window. It’s difficult for someone to pluck you out of the wilderness.

“We haven’t looked at it like that [that the club won’t get a transfer fee]. We are just waiting for Steven to come back and say he’s ready to play football.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in