They say you should never fall in love with a loan player, but QPR fans are finding it hard to fight off their feelings about the most exciting goalkeeper in the Championship.
Pierce Charles is on a season-long loan from Manchester City and has been wowing spectators at Loftus Road. At 21, he has become Northern Ireland’s No1 and in the past month has saved penalties from Paris Saint-Germain star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and England winger Jarrod Bowen, his stocks only rising, his great many admirers only growing in number.
It has led plenty of fans of the west London club to fear the dreaded hand of City’s recruitment team yanking him back in January, either keeping him at the Etihad or loaning him back out, perhaps to a Championship rival seen as likelier challengers for Premier League promotion.
Pierce Charles playing for Northern Ireland
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Standard Sport understands that City did negotiate a recall clause into his QPR loan deal, but there are currently no plans for it to be activated in January.
All parties are benefiting from his superb start at QPR. The player himself is starting every game; City are watching an estimable young player grow and improve; QPR can call upon the goalkeeper they believe is the best in their division.
When Charles joined City in July for just north of £3million plus add-ons, they knew precisely what they were getting. The younger brother of Fulham summer signing Shea, both siblings had begun their youth careers at City — before Pierce was released as City picked George Murray-Jones, now with Nottingham Forest’s B team, ahead of him.
Charles failed trials at Aston Villa and Sunderland before it emerged that Everton and Sheffield Wednesday were interested.
The Manchester-born shot-stopper joined Wednesday in 2021 at the age of 16, the club’s goalkeeper coach Nicky Weaver integral in the move and to his rapid progress while with them.
Pierce Charles is earning plenty of plaudits
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Charles is only 6ft1in tall, but stands out in other ways. He played outfield until Under-9s, and his gift with the ball at his feet - and the confidence that brings - never abandoned him. In the recent 4-1 win over a Derby side allergic to pressing, Charles stood over the ball outside his area, held his nerve, and only played a pass once one opened up… after 40 seconds of waiting.
His time at Wednesday coincided with the last days of Dejphon Chansiri’s grim ownership of the club. Players signing pro deals at 16 can only ever commit to three years, and repeated calls from Wednesday staff for the hierarchy to renegotiate and lock down their prodigious talent once he’d turned 18 fell on deaf ears. The new owners did all they could this summer, but City came calling. Then, for loans, very few clubs did. Except QPR; CEO Christian Nourry is a huge fan.
Charles was in and around the England setup until conversations about his Northern Irish eligibility began a five-year association that has led him to the No1 shirt. “Pierce is one of those goalkeepers everyone is looking for in the modern game,” says Northern Ireland boss O’Neill. He kept four straight clean sheets in the Nations League last international break, his nation’s longest run since 2017.
City will look to ramp things up with a higher–profile move next season, possibly on loan on the Continent. QPR, for now, will sit back and enjoy him while they can.