The striker’s departure will not be regretted by QPR or Julien Stephan because it is not Charlie Kelman.
Stephan’s team had a rocky start to the season, winning just one of their first three games and suffering a crushing 7-1 loss on the road to Frank Lampard’s free-scoring Coventry City team. They haven’t lost since, though, and they quickly started a winning streak of three games, defeating Charlton Athletic, Wrexham, and Stoke City before drawing with Oxford United and Sheffield Wednesday.
However, with a 2-1 victory over Bristol City on Saturday afternoon, QPR got back to winning ways and moved up to sixth place heading into the October international break. Perhaps this impressive start to the season is a result of what many saw as a positive summer at QPR, where early contributions from new players like Richard Kone and Koki Saito—the Japanese winger, of course, having spent the previous season on loan at Loftus Road—as well as the much-heralded appointment of Stephan paid off.
As usual, there was action on both sides, and QPR made sure that some exits streamlined their bid for summer arrivals. Zen Celar and Charlie Kelman, for example, were both let go; the latter was on loan to Fortuna Düsseldorf, while the former was reportedly sold for £3.5 million. While Kelman’s goalless start in the Championship with Charlton has received a lot of attention, Celar’s lacklustre start in Germany will likewise leave little room for regret.
After coming from Swiss team Lugano, Celar had a painfully frustrating debut season with QPR before his temporary move to Düsseldorf was approved back in August. Naturally, the 17-cap Slovenian international had a great goal-scoring background when he joined QPR, but he found it difficult to adapt to the demands of the second division of English football. In 22 games, he only managed two goals, both of which came in a 2-0 victory over Cardiff City. Celar’s campaign was cut short in December due to injury, but he did make a comeback to play twice in the Championship under Stephan before getting sent off, and he’s hardly making QPR rue that choice right now.
Despite playing four Bundesliga games so far, Celar has failed to score. 2. made their debut in a 0-0 tie with Karlsruher SC at the conclusion of the previous month. Additionally, he failed to score in the following games against Preussen Munster, Darmstadt, and FC Nurnberg—two of which Düsseldorf lost—and was benched as an unutilised substitute in a 1-0 victory against Bochum on the road. Celar should have lots of chances to regain his European goal-scoring ability and even make QPR regret approving a loan departure after just one season because Düsseldorf doesn’t have many experienced strikers on the roster.
Celar hasn’t done much to improve his early Düsseldorf attempts, though, and is currently second in line behind former Rangers attacker Cedric Itten. Since Stephan had expanded his strike options by acquiring Rumarn Burrell and the aforementioned Kone from Burton Albion and Wycombe Wanderers, respectively, few R’s supporters questioned the reasoning behind Celar’s departure at the time. Even if Burrell hasn’t quite taken off, having only managed one goal and one assist in his ten games, Kone is, predictably, turning out to be a wise acquisition.
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