What should you do if you want to sign a new striker to your club? Play
FIFA with them apparently. Yes, QPR wrapped up talks with new signing Loic Remy with chairman Tony Fernandes taking on the striker in a couple of friendly games. Remy said that the games made an impact on his decision to move to the Premier League club. “It was a special moment that followed our chat about QPR. We just played a game of FIFA – it was good and showed to me what a good person Tony is,” he told the
club’s website.
Remy took the friendly series 2-0 after crushing Fernandes with Bayern Munich initially, and then pipping him in the second game on penalties. Interesting, the pair played FIFA 12, not FIFA 13. QPR can pay £10 million to sign the player and offer him a reported £80,000 a week, but it can’t spare £40 for the newest version of FIFA? Who knows who Fernandes might be able to sign with a more recent copy of FIFA.
QPR’s CEO Philip Beard admitted that it was incredible that the club was able to sign him considering how interested a lot of other clubs were. However, Beard maintains that “This move isn’t motivated by money.” Hmmmm…For some reason we remain sceptical.
The move also affects FIFA fans who can now start plotting an Ultimate Team based around Remy who will link up with other QPR powerhouses such as Adel Taarabt, along with fellow Premier League players. Will future versions of FIFA offer us the chance to play potential signings in a friendly game to convince them to join our sides, we wonder? FIFA-ception!