QPR goalkeeper Robert Green has expressed his ‘shock’ at the signing of Brazil keeper Julio Cesar just four weeks after he joined the club from West Ham.
The former England international says he would have thought twice about moving to the London club if he knew he would be competing with the Brazilian.
“I came to QPR looking for a new challenge after six years at West Ham, a wonderful time capped off by promotion at Wembley,” Green told the Mail on Sunday.
“Kevin Hitchcock, the goalkeeping coach at QPR, is an old mate and I came to work for him on the understanding that I was first choice.
“If he’d said to me we’re also going to sign someone who’s won Serie A five times and the Champions League and is one of the biggest names in South American football, I would have thought twice before signing.
“I’d read rumours in the press about Julio coming, but when I asked officials at the club they dismissed it as paper talk and said he wasn’t going to sign.
“Now that the Brazilian had joined the club I needed to know where I stood.
“I asked Mark Hughes. He told me Julio was going to play, that I’d done nothing wrong and that he wanted two top keepers competing for the position.
“I replied, ‘Well, if he’s going straight into the first team he’s not really competing, is he? Where does that leave me?'”
“Hughes replied, ‘You’re free to leave whenever you want’. It wasn’t quite what I wanted to hear.”
