QPR played it smart with £1m Spurs transfer that made waves - Is it the club's best in recent times? | OneFootball

QPR pulled off a historic bargain with the signing of Adel Taarabt from Spurs in the summer of 2010

QPR struck gold when they signed mercurial playmaker Adel Taarabt from Spurs in the summer of 2010, and he may well represent the club's finest transfer business in recent memory.

Often labelled as a 'streets won't forget player' - the terminology used in reference to memorable maverick crowd-pleasers who were brilliant at full-throttle though perhaps blighted by inconsistency - the Loftus Road legend is far more than just that if you quiz the QPR faithful.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Taarabt is the single most naturally-gifted player to turn out for the club since the turn of the millennium. Few would contest that he should have enjoyed a career spent on football's grandest pantheons, although QPR were privileged enough to see him firing on all cylinders for one special season.

They may have wasted eye-watering sums of money on overpriced, overpaid and over-the-hill transfer flops under the ill-fated and misguided ownership of Tony Fernandes after Taarabt's exploits guided them to the Premier League in 2011, but the move to bring him across London in the first place was inspired business at a remarkably low cost.

According to reports, Taarabt made the permanent transfer to QPR for a meager £1m fee after enjoying a productive seven-goal, 11-assist season on loan from Spurs the previous year at the age of 19 - yet it paled in comparison to what was to follow.

Adel Taarabt's memorable 2010/11 QPR promotion season

Taarabt was already a burgeoning and highly-exciting prospect when he signed for QPR on a permanent basis, but nobody could have possibly anticipated the lasting legacy he would leave across the 2010/11 Championship campaign.

The attacking midfielder was unplayable all year long, taking liberties and tormenting opponents at will and displaying output and mesmerising trickery which had never been previously seen at this level - and is unlikely to be replicated again, either.

His tricks, flicks, nutmegs and dazzling ability to beat opponents with such nonchalance was spellbinding in itself, and it is difficult to escape the line of thinking that the sport misses arrogant, devastatingly-gifted mavericks of that ilk.

Ultimately, though, Taarabt provided the goods in front of goal to lead QPR to a Premier League promotion under Neil Warnock, who took the one-time misfit under his wing and entrusted his talents like no other.

To say Warnock's show of faith paid dividends could well underestimate the sheer gravity of Taarabt's impact as he scored 19 league goals while laying on a further 21 assists.

When you consider that QPR signed Taarabt for just £1m, it has to be recognised as a masterstroke - even if they never received the profit they would have expected after that historic promotion season, having terminated his contract in 2015. Nonetheless, it got us thinking - have the R's received a better bang for their buck in recent times?

QPR's best signings aside from £1m Adel Taarabt capture

The simple and perhaps unsurprising answer is that QPR have not made a better value-for-money signing than Taarabt in recent times. However, that is not to say that they have not pulled off some more shrewd acquisitions with handsome rewards, either.

Charlie Austin is worth a mention, despite the fact that QPR reportedly sold him on to Southampton for the same £4m fee that they paid Burnley. Austin may not have represented profit, but he did prove a significant source of goals in both the Championship and the Premier League.

After signing from Burnley, the striker returned 19 goals from 34 Championship matches to guide QPR back to the big time at the first attempt in the 2013/14 season, before going on to notch 18 the year after, despite their immediate top-flight relegation.

Austin, who earned call-ups to the senior England international side without making an appearance during his time with QPR, sat on 10 strikes in 16 games back in the Championship by the time that Southampton lured him to St Mary's.

Alejandro Faurlin was another shrewd pickup by QPR after joining the club for a reported £3.5m outlay from Argentine outfit Instituo, making more than 150 appearances across a well-remembered seven-year stay and becoming a cult hero among the club's fanbase.

Those are two of the best signings QPR have made in recent times, with the exception of Taarabt. QPR's financial purse-string have been tightened as of late, though, and they have not sold too many players for significant fees either.

With that in mind, then, Taarabt surely remains as the best signing QPR have made across the last fifteen years, if not even more.