Due to the strangeness of the transfer, we were very intrigued when it seemed like QPR’s Steven Caulker could be heading to Russia, with Lokomotiv Moscow very strongly hinting a transfer was in the pipeline.
This was over a week ago, and since a tweet showing Caulker’s former Tottenham teammate Vedran Corluka ‘talking’ to the new arrival on Skype in English, there hadn’t ben much activity.
The club’s president, Ilya Gerkus, told TASS earlier this week that negotiations were still underway with the QPR defender, having already agreed a deal with the Championship club.
However, on Thursday afternoon, Lokomotiv Moscow, who have enjoyed playing with their fans’ emotions with cryptic tweets, seemed to suggest the transfer for Steven Caulker has now fallen through.
22-й номер в «Локо» останется незанятым. Мы продолжаем работу по поиску игроков, которые усилят наш состав. Вы узнаете обо всем первыми! pic.twitter.com/pOwnJT2mj2
— ФК Локомотив (@fclm_official) February 9, 2017
Posting a tweet saying “Lokomotiv’s #22 shirt remains unoccupied. We continue to work to find players who will strengthen our squad. You will learn everything first”, the Russian side also included a short video in English of an airport flight schedule claiming “flight 22 to Moscow” was now “cancelled”.
Furthermore, TASS reported on Thursday that a source close to the deal told them: “The transfer will not take place. Steven Caulker kept changing his terms. Furthermore, his family didn’t want the move to Moscow.”
The 25-year-old defender hasn’t played for QPR since the end of October, not even featuring in any of Ian Holloway’s squads.
With the Russian transfer window closing on the 28th of February, there was still plenty of time to get a deal done, but if his family don’t want a move to Russia, a transfer there seems unlikely.
There’s always China, Steven…
