QPR boss Harry Redknapp has again defended Peter Odemwingie over his collapsed transfer from West Bromwich Albion.

Redknapp wrote in the The Sun: "It's no secret how keen I was to sign him for QPR and, for a long while, it looked as though the deal was going to happen.

"We had got a price off West Brom, the kid himself thought it was all on and obviously so did his advisors. So it wasn't out of order for him to jump in his car and head to London.

"After all, it's a three-hour drive or so, he'd be going through rush-hour and who knows how bad the traffic could have been.

"Don't forget, it wasn't just a case of coming down and signing a piece of paper. There was the medical to go through and everything else and it all had to be done by 11pm.

"Peter just wanted to make sure he was in the London area so the deal could go through before that deadline.

"It would have looked even worse if it had fallen through because he hadn't got here in time.

"The big problem was that the deal involved a player going the opposite direction on loan.

"But he didn't want to go, so the whole thing broke down - but none of us knew that was going to happen, so you can't blame Odemwingie for it. "