Charlie Austin: QPR boss Harry Redknapp says player will not go

Charlie Austin scored for the fifth home game running with a hat-trick for QPR in their 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion

Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp insists any January bids for top scorer Charlie Austin would be rejected.

Austin, 25, has scored 11 goals this season, including a hat-trick in QPR's 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion which lifted them out of the bottom three.

"If we sold Charlie Austin we might as well go home," said Redknapp.

"We need Charlie to keep doing what he's doing and he can't afford to take his foot off the gas. His target would be around 20 goals now."

Austin, who joined QPR from Burnley at the start of last season, has 18 months left to run on his existing contract at Loftus Road.

The former Swindon Town striker, who was playing non-league football five years ago, has scored nine goals in his last eight games and a total of 31 in 52 appearances for Rangers.

Redknapp added: "He's a goalscorer. He wants to score. Goalscorers find a yard of space. It's a knack - he's in the right place at the right time.

"If you score 20 goals in the Championship this year you'll score in the Premier League. It's not rocket science, it's that knack that people have got - they've been scoring goals since they were kids."