QPR sign Burnley forward Charlie Austin

Hoos added that QPR are able to offer "Premier League wages in the Championship" because of the parachute payments they are receiving.

Austin looked set to move to Premier League new boys Hull City last month, but a £4.5 million transfer fell through after the former Swindon Town forward failed a medical.

The striker had known issues with his shoulder, but Tigers manager Steve Bruce revealed it was an issue with Austin’s knee that scuppered the transfer.

Austin scored 28 goals in 40 appearances for Burnley last season, firing the Clarets to 11th place in the Championship.

He was briefly the top scorer in Europe, ahead of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Austin raced to 20 goals for the season in early November and equalled Ray Pointer’s longstanding Burnley record of scoring in eight successive matches.

Austin’s 24 league goals left him third top scorer in the Championship last season between Jordan Rhodes of Blackburn Rovers and Glenn Murray of Crystal Palace.

However, his form tailed off in the second half of the season under new Clarets boss Sean Dyche, who replaced Eddie Howe as the Turf Moor club’s manager in October. Austin missed the end of the season after having his appendix removed and was also out for most of January with a hamstring problem.

Despite his medical at Hull finding an issue with his knee, this has never kept Austin out of a Burnley match. However, he has dislocated his shoulder at least three times.

Dominant in the air but just as accurate a finisher with either foot, Austin is a classic penalty box predator who thrives on crosses flung into the box from deep areas.

He will be tasked with firing QPR back to the Premier League and is likely to replace Loic Remy in Redknapp’s strongest team, with the French attacker linked with a move to Newcastle United.

Austin’s goal record is impressive wherever he has played, although he came to professional football later than most players. He played for Kintbury Rangers and Hungerford Town before moving to Poole Town, while working as a bricklayer.

Howe tried to take Austin to Bournemouth in 2009 but was blocked by a transfer embargo and the striker instead moved to League One Swindon Town.

During his two-and-a-half years at the County Ground, Austin scored 31 goals in 54 appearances, including a goal in the play-off semi-final against Charlton Athletic. However, he missed a great chance in the final at Wembley against Millwall and the London club won promotion to the Championship after a 1-0 win.

Austin’s goal exploits continued the following season with the striker scoring 17 goals for Swindon and he was soon attracting the attention of a number of Championship clubs.

It was Howe - by now Burnley’s manager - who won his signature for a fee of around £1.2 million, though Austin failed to score in the only four matches he played in for his new club that season.

After a full pre-season under his belt, Austin scored 17 goals in 46 matches for Burnley in the Championship, including his first hat-trick for the club in a 5-1 win at Portsmouth.

Burnley sold Jay Rodriguez to Southampton for £7 million last summer and that opened the door for Austin to take over as the club’s main forward.

Austin scored in each of the Clarets’ first three matches of the season and went on a run of 14 goals in eight matches - including two hat-tricks - through September and October.

It was during this hot spell that Austin had an altercation in a Swindon nightclub. He was convicted of common assault and ordered by magistrates to pay a fine of £1,800 and £1,320 in costs.

When Howe returned to his old club Bournemouth in October last year and was replaced by former Watford manager Sean Dyche, Austin’s form was affected and his goals dried up.

After scoring in each of Dyche’s first two matches in charge at Turf Moor, Austin added just eight more goals to his tally from 23 appearances. His career record now stands at 82 goals in 155 matches in professional football.

With Austin having missed out on his Premier League move to Hull City, he will be determined to fire his new club to the top flight this season.