Samba Diakite finds himself in no man’s land after returning to QPR from loan club Ittihad FC in Saudi Arabia.

The Mali international has no squad number after caretaker boss Chris Ramsey was forced to choose between Diakiate and Michael Doughty.

Choice: Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt (R) gets tackled by Michael Doughty

The youngster got the nod, and made his Premier League debut as sub in the 2-0 away win at Sunderland last time out.

Diakite has been something of a nomad since he cost Rs around £3.5million and a four-year deal in 2012 from AC Nancy.

After making his debut in February 2012 in a 1–0 defeat at home against Fulham, where he was sent-off after just 33 minutes with a second booking, he spent time at Watford last season before heading to the Middle East.

He got sent off in his full debut for the Hornets as well, and picked up a further 10 yellows and a second red card during his time with Rangers, while scoring a winner against Arsenal.

The long walk: Diakite walks past QPR manager Mark Hughes after being sent off

Ramsey admits he’s not quite sure what to do with the 26-year-old.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to him,” the head coach said. “He’s not in the official 25 squad. There was a crossover day when he was coming back from Saudi Arabia, and we decided on Michael Doughty instead.

“Michael’s a good player who deserves to be in the squad. Samba’s here, and he’s fit and flying about in training.”

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