Redknapp in Remy limbo

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The former Marseille man has a buyout clause of between €9-11m, depending on the club doing the bidding and he is desperate to play Champions League football.

The problem is the world knows all the intricacies of his contract and, as the final day of the transfer window looms, potential suitors will be waiting to pounce in the final week of August to pluck the rare gem from Rangers’ sparsely decorated crown.

Redknapp is loath to plan for a season with his prolific forward in case he slips out the back door for a smaller fee than the one that got Shane Long to move from Hull to Southampton last week. But he also cannot sign a main-event striker just in case Remy, for whatever reason, suddenly decides to commit his future to the west London club.

Goals will be hard enough to come by for Redknapp’s side back in the top flight this season as they plan on playing three deep-lying centre-backs and over-loading the centre of the pitch with a five-man midfield. They will be nigh on impossible to convert — even with the relentless efforts of Charlie Austin who was unlucky to miss a penalty at the weekend — if Remy trades up before September 1 and Rangers have no one to fill his shooting boots.

“He’s got a buy-out clause which is a problem,” Redknapp admitted with an unavoidable air of defeat.

“If someone comes in and offers the money you lose him. If he goes you’re looking for two strikers which isn’t easy. We’ll probably use the loan system again. Maybe we’ll buy one and loan a couple.

“He’s got two different figures — one for a Champions League team and one for a team not playing in it. If he’s going to leave QPR, it’s got to be to a big club, a top-seven club.

“He didn’t want to go back to Newcastle, which is a massive club. Unless it’s a club in the top seven I don’t think he’ll go.”

Rangers face Redknapp’s former employees, Tottenham, on Sunday at White Hart Lane and the rest of their schedule, before the transfer window closes, looks handsome with fixtures against fellow relegation fighters Sunderland, Stoke and Southampton as well as lame-looking Manchester United.

If Remy would make his intentions known, a deal would be quickly wrapped up so Redknapp could go about reinvesting the funds.

This looks like a month filled with three-point opportunities but if Redknapp doesn’t do his business soon, it will come and pass without proving fruitful and the prospect of Rangers sitting in the bottom three and light in crucial areas of their squad will be a terrifying one for a club with such a huge wage bill and little commercial clout.

In an ideal world, James Chester would not have shook off the attention of Rio Ferdinand to head home the winner on Saturday and Tottenham, buoyed by the summer signing of a new manager, would not be next on the agenda.

But Redknapp, after all his years in the game, knows the world is far from perfect and star man Remy could be poised to remind him just how cruel it can sometimes be.

QPR: Green 7, Caulker 7, Ferdinand 6, Dunne 6 (Zamora 77, 4), Simpson 6 (Matt Phillips, 69, 5), Faurlin 7 (Hoilett 69, 5), Mutch 7, Barton 5, Traore 5, Remy 7, Austin 5.

HULL: McGregor 9, Bruce 6 (McShane 46, 5), Chester 8, Davies 8, Elmohamady 6, Huddlestone 7, Livermore 7, Robertson 6, Snodgrass 5 (Quinn, 40, 5), Ince 5 (Meyler 82, 5), Jelavic 7.

Referee: Craig Pawson.