Things could have been very different on Saturday for Pompey and QPR.

Pompey and QPR do battle at Fratton Park in the EFL Championship on Saturday - and the visitors have a player in their ranks who instead could have been lining up against them.

Karamoko Dembele was a player who was being spoken about as a potential Blues signing during the summer transfer window. The tricky attacker, who was described as a wonderkid during his time at Celtic, had performed admirably during his time at Blackpool last season and was considered someone who could make the step up to the Championship at PO4.

John Mousinho was definitely a fan of the Seasiders loanee. But due to the numbers of clubs who were being linked with Dembele and the their status at the time, there was a feeling Pompey were not in a position to truly compete for his signature.

Karamoko Dembele’s QPR move

Dembele recorded an impressive 13 assists and eight goals last season as Blackpool just missed out on a play-off spot. His parent club Brest had qualified for the Champions League and so they wanted to recruit a higher calibre of player who was capable of doing it at Europe's top table.

In the middle of August it was announced that Dembele would be returning to England and signed on a season-long loan deal. A month later, QPR announced that the loan would be turned into a permanent move at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

To date, Dembele has made 12 appearances across all competitions for the Hoops. He registered an assist on his debut and then followed that up with another in his second league game against Plymouth Argyle.

It was a productive first few games for the winger, who was played mainly on the right-hand side of QPR's attack. His one and only goal for QPR to date came in the 2-1 defeat to Pompey at Loftus Road in mid-October. Dembele had opened the scoring, but Freddie Potts equalised nine minutes later, before Callum Lang scored with a penalty to give Pompey their first win of the season.

Fratton Park appearance in the offing

However, a knee injury has forced Dembele to miss a large chunk of the campaign to date. He has been sidelined since October and had to undergo surgery for the problem.

An appearance against Pompey could be on the cards, though, after the forward got through a second week of training in the build-up to Saturday’s game at Fratton Park. Indeed, Dembele, alongside Lucas Andersen, who has been out since December, is doing his best to force his way in to the manager’s plans ahead of their trip to the south coast.

‘It’s their second week training with the team, which is always a positive signal,’ said head coach Marti Cifuentes to West London Sport.

‘When we speak about (previously) injured players it’s not just about whether they are fit but also whether they are ready to compete.

‘We need to make sure that they are ready to really contribute. But both of them are showing really good things in training and we’re going to take a decision in the next hours.’