Wolves in five team transfer tussle with Crystal Palace and Celtic for £1.02m star

Wolves are among five teams in a race to sign QPR defender Jake Clarke-Salter, according to a report.

The Sun is reporting that Wolves along with Burnley and Crystal Palace are 'keeping tabs' on Clarke-Salter. He is also attracting interest from Scottish Premiership giants Celtic as well as Ipswich Town who took a giant step towards the Premier League with a win against Southampton on Easter Monday.

All five clubs have been monitoring his progress in recent weeks ahead of a possible move in the summer. He is a prominent fixture under Martí Cifuentes and has built up a solid partnership alongside Steve Cook, as they try to steer the West London club to safety.

The 26-year-old is under contract at Loftus Road until the summer of 2026 and so a transfer fee would need to be paid to lure him away from QPR. He has been a QPR player since 2022 after finally leaving Chelsea following a 15-year association to the Blues.

Clarke-Slater was previously the captain of the England under-21 national team. He has had loans at Bristol Rovers, Sunderland, Vitesse, Birmingham City and Coventry City, with QPR only the second permanent club of his career. In his career, he has made 114 appearances in the Championship, as well as one single outing in the Premier League for Chelsea.

He has played 29 times in the Championship for QPR this season and has kept eight clean sheets. QPR are currently six points above safety and so any hopes of a cut-price seems unlikely. Clarke-Salter's last TransferMarkt value was in December 2023 and they priced him at £1.02m but they might hold out for more.

As speculation begins over a possible move to Molineux, one of his footballing inspirations is someone who is a highly regarded figure at the club. Clarke-Salter hailed former Wolves defender Connor Coady as one of his inspirations.

The former Everton man recovered from being let go from the bigger clubs and still forged a career at the highest level of professional football in England. In an interview in June 2022, he said: "“I look at people like Conor Coady and Tyrone Mings for inspiration that I can do what they did.

“It will always be an ambition to get an international cap.”