Will somebody please sign Charlie Austin?!
The QPR striker is a target for a number of Premier League clubs but nobody has even made an offer.
Newcastle United, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace are showing plenty of interest but are being put off by the R's' asking price of £15million.
Austin, 25, is desperate to stay in England's top flight after scoring 18 goals for the relegated R's who are hoping, somehow, that they can keep hold of him as they look to return to the top echelon after a season in the Championship.
First up is Newcastle who have reportedly made a £10m offer which was straight-up rejected by QPR and rightly so. If you compare Austin to Danny Ings, who is set to cost Liverpool a record compensation fee of around £8m, the former is easily worth what the R's want for him.
Sure, Austin has three years on Ings, who was underwhelming at best for England at the U21 Euros, but the former Swindon Town man is much better value.
During their two full seasons together at Burley, Austin scored 44 goals and Ings just six. The latter will be playing for one of England's biggest clubs next season yet Austin cannot find a suitor.
Enough of the comparisons, however, as admittedly Ings was still learning his trade…..but you get the point.
Steve McClaren is searching for a quality goalscorer to deploy in his first season at St James' Park. It looks like he wants to get rid of Papiss Cisse and with his departure will go 11 Premier League goals from last season.
That leaves 21-year old Ayoze Perez as the second top scorer with seven. Not really enough to endear yourself to the Geordie faithful.
West Ham are looking to make their presence felt in the transfer market following the arrival of Slaven Bilic as Sam Allardyce's replacement.
The Hammers are cashed up as evidenced by their pursuit of such players as Marseille winger Dimitri Payet, Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Yohan Cabaye, Chelsea striker Loic Remy and Barcelona midfielder Alex Song who spent last season on loan at Upton Park.
If Remy signs then so be it, but while he hasn't, West Ham should be seriously contemplating a swoop for Austin. He has proved that he is settled in London and a shift across the capital won't be an issue at all.
In Palace's corner, Alan Pardew has proved that he wants to give opportunities to English attackers like Glenn Murray, Dwight Gayle, Fraizer Campbell and Wilfried Zaha.
But the negative aspect is that the Eagles' club record transfer fee is £7m for James McArthur. A midfielder. The most they have spent on a striker – £4.5m for Gayle – is less than a third of what QPR want for Austin.
And finally we focus our attention on Villa. Manager Tim Sherwood will surely have to make a move for Austin if he loses Christian Benteke to Liverpool. Surely!
Sherwood will have spoken to good friend Chris Ramsey regarding the Berkshire boy and no doubt there will be a glowing appraisal forthcoming from the Loftus Road boss.
The fact that three English managers are being heavily linked with Austin suggests they want to have in their corner England's next star striker. Which this guy is capable of becoming.
While I wouldn't move heaven and earth to make the Austin transfer happen, £15m for a gritty-yet-classy goalscorer is not a lot in today's financial environment.
All of these clubs, except perhaps Palace, can afford to part with that amount of money and in return, they will receive a player who scored almost 43% of his side's goals in a relegation season.
Money well spent in my opinion.
