Sky Sports News are reporting this evening that Fulham are close to concluding a loan deal to bring QPR midfielder Adel Taraabt to Craven Cottage.

The Moroccan international has been on the periphery at relegated Rangers since being sent home from their pre-season training camp in Devon by Harry Redknapp having turned up late for training. Redknapp has been keen to ease Taraabt off the Championship club’s wage bill, but had previously insisted that he would only consider permanent offers for the former Tottenham midfielder. Martin Jol, who was Spurs’ manager when Taarabt joined the north London club in 2007, is still looking for a creative midfielder, having only signed the more defensively-minded Derek Boateng on a free transfer this summer.

The 24 year-old had two loan spells at Loftus Road – the rest being interrupted by injury – before signing for QPR from Tottenham on a permanent deal worth £1m in August 2010. He scored 19 goals in 44 league appearances as Rangers won promotion to the Premier League, being named the Championship Player of the Year in recognition of his outstanding season.

The midfielder had a fitful first season in the top flight, scoring twice in thirty appearances, as Rangers avoided relegation on the final day and his mercurial talent was mostly prodigiously displayed in QPR’s first win of the following season when the Moroccan produced an inspired performance scoring both goals in the 2-1 defeat of Fulham at Loftus Road last December. Whether Taarabt’s outdoubted talent could triumph over his famed temperament – he was photographed waited for a bus after being substituted at half-time during Fulham’s 6-0 thumping of QPR in 2010 – remains to be seen.

Sky Sports News claim that the clubs are close to agreement on a season-long loan with a few to a permanent transfer.