Mbia could be just the ticket
It is difficult to gauge the reported one year swap loan deal between Joey Barton and Stephane Mbia, but it is the way of these things that the devil is always in the detail.
The arrival of a player as accomplished as Mbia would always welcome. After all, this is a player whose conversion from defensive midfielder to central defence by Didier Deschamps (if we didn't have Mark Hughes...) is considered to be the defining moment of Olympique Marseille's title charge in 2010.
By his own admission last season was not so good for Mbia, which perhaps cooled Chelsea and Arsenal's interest in the Cameroon international. Arsenal, who have also been linked to Mbia in the last 24 hours, have their sights on other areas of their game now RVP has gone to Man Utd.
I wonder whether Man Utd are done for the time being, particularly after their shares fell below offer price in New York after their coup. As far as Chelsea are concerned, will Roberto Di Matteo have the guts to upset his old team-mate John Terry by buying his replacement a year too early?
That leaves Marseille with a problem: they need to sell, or at least to offload some of the big wage earners to survive now that the Champions League is not on the agenda this season.
QPR desperately need a central defender - that much is clear - and Mbia fits the Hughes mould: he's big, strong, smart with the ball and versatile.
Buying Mbia makes sense, but how does Joey Barton fit into the picture? He can only be a sweetener, and that means that we will be taking a hit on his wages - Marseille are not going to offload a big wage earner only to have another one arrive.
If a one-year loan gets Barton playing football somewhere else, therefore keeping him in the shop window, while getting QPR the quality defender they need then the maths might work.
Particularly if it means that in a year's time we are allowed to purchase Mbia at a fraction of the £16 million asking price - it would be worth the hit in the short term.
As for Joey in a year? He truly is the master of his own destiny. Keep his nose clean and he may play at Loftus Road again, or he might even find the bohemian life he craves in a country that will truly appreciate his Trotskyite leanings.
Follow Sean Smith on Twitter @seanshorn
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