QPR’s £2m ‘joke’ is silencing critics but new signing was ‘the best player’ vs Stoke

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While Richard Kone has hit the ground running at Queens Park Rangers, Football League expert Ali Maxwell is delighted to see a few less-heralded members of Julien Stephan’s side belatedly make a mark of their own.

Maxwell watched on in awe as Harvey Vale announced himself as a QPR player at last during the 3-1 triumph over Wrexham.

On a day when summer signing Rumarn Burrell finally translated his League One form onto the Championship page, former Chelsea starlet Vale produced a statement performance as Stephan’s team put that seven-goal drubbing by Coventry City firmly in the rearview mirror.

One week later, even better was to come from Harvey Vale and Queens Park Rangers.

While Richard Kone could’ve joined an exclusive Championship club by scoring a fourth goal in his first five second-tier matches, Vale opened his Rangers account with a gorgeous left-footed curler past arguably the finest shot-stopper in the division; Stoke’s Viktor Johanssen.

Yet, there was another victorious QPR midfielder whose own standout performance marked a coming-of-age period; the formerly-maligned Nicolas Madsen.

Ali Maxwell hails Nicolas Madsen’s Queens Park Rangers ‘renaissance’

A £2 million signing from Belgian outfit KV Westerlo in the summer of 2024, QPR may have been forgiven for giving up the ghost and cutting ties with Madsen following his very underwhelming debut season in South London.

Now, with both he and Vale given a new lease of life in Stephan’s 4-2-3-1 system and QPR deservedly beating early pacesetters Stoke City, Maxwell feels that Rangers’ faith is being rewarded.

“I said I was excited to see [Vale] given a real spot in this team. He was absolutely everywhere in this game and could have scored more than his beautiful finish,” Maxwell says on the latest Not the Top 20 podcast.

“But Nicolas Madsen as well has had a real renaissance.”

Julien Stephan has found a much better role for Madsen

Having scored 14 goals during his final season in Belgium, the 6ft 4ins Madsen was initially expected to be a box-crashing powerhouse of an attacking midfielder at QPR. But, thanks largely to Stephan pushing him back into a more defensively-minded role, Rangers fans are finally seeing the best of the former Denmark Under-21 international.

“[Madsen has recovered] after a first season where I think QPR fans saw him as a bit of a joke figure. One of those big burley, centre-mids that is not actually doing much with his physicality and wasn’t exactly as advertised,” Maxwell adds.

“But how often do we see these guys in year two – once they have adapted to the level – show what they can do? There are loads of players cross the league who I can think of, and I think that’s not much of a surprise.

“When you sign players from overseas, from leagues that are very different in lots of ways, you can’t expect them to slot in straight away. That patience being shown, not to just ship these guys off after one season, looks to be paying off with Madsen.”

Koki Saito was QPR’s star man during Stoke City win

Maxwell’s co-host George Elek, meanwhile, feels that no discussion of QPR’s third successive Championship win is complete without mention of Koki Saito; ‘the best player on the pitch’.

Eredivisie fanatics who watched Saito bamboozle Dutch defenders for Sparta Rotterdam will be feeling a great deal of justification as the silky Japan international showcases his skillset to a much larger audience.

“QPR’s really good form continues,” Elek says. “It’s incredible what they’ve done on the back of a 7-1 defeat. The Richard Kone, Rumarn Burrell and this time Harvey Vale trio is working really, really well.

“They were pretty good for the most part in this, particularly in the second-half. This was not the best performance from Stoke, who have been so impressive this season. It was inevitable that it was going to come, it would be really hard to maintain their form

“Probably the best player on the pitch today [was] Saito, who is looking really, really good. His ball-carrying, really strong, creative, a goal threat… He was really, really good on the day.”