Sven Claes has reported that Lommel and QPR are finalising a deal that will see Koki Saito leave the club once again. After two seasons in the Eredivisie with Sparta Rotterdam, the exciting Japanese attacker is going to try his luck in the Championship. QPR fans are used to seeing exciting attacking players who can play out wide and in behind strikers. Can Saito follow in the footsteps of the likes of Adel Taraabt, Tjaronn Chery and Ilias Chair?
Despite having been a Lommel player for the past four seasons, the Belgian clubs fans barely got to see Saito. He joined midway through the 2020/2021 season, only really getting to show his talents during the following season. In 20 games in the Belgian second tier he scored five goals and grabbed two assists, impressing with his technical ability that was clearly beyond the level he was playing at. Without the City Group, there is little chance that Saito would ever have ended up in the second tier of Belgian football anyway.
Saito moved to Rotterdam for a two season loan at the start of the 2022/2023 season, and his first season was a great success. In 26 Eredivisie games he scored seven goals and grabbed five assists. Last year he maintained his assist numbers, providing five again. In 21 games he only managed three goals.
QPR are set to get a player than can play anywhere across the front line, on either wing or behind the striker. During the most recent Olympic games he impressed with two assists in three games for Japan. Saito is an exciting player to watch at times and will certainly entertain the crowd at Loftus Road. It appears that the move will only be a loan, but with the players contract in Lommel up at the end of the current season, an impressive year in the Championship could see him given another chance in England. There are talks that QPR have an obligation to buy as part of the loan, but that has yet to be confirmed.
For Lommel fans, this is part and parcel of being within the City Group. Players will come and go often, and even those who are under contract at the club are not really under their control. While the model can be criticised, and I myself have been critical of it in the past, for Lommel it has meant they remain a stable second tier side that go into every season with a chance of being in the promotion hunt. They came close last season and may well be in the mix again this season, even without the likes of Saito.
GBeNeFNÂ |Â Ben Jackson
