Confusion over prison term for Rotherham United opponent

QPR are in contact with the legal team of the player who has been on trial in his home country of Belgium over the incident which dates back to 2020.

The 26-year-old is said to have been jailed for a year and ordered to pay his victim more than £12,000 in compensation.

He has the right to an appeal and has yet to go to prison. In theory, that means he is available for the match against the Millers at Loftus Road.

In a statement issued today, QPR said: “The club are, and have been, in regular contact with Ilias Chair’s legal team regarding a charge of assault which has been made against him.

“The legal proceeding is yet to reach its conclusion. As such, the club will be making no further comment at this stage.”

Chair, a Morocco international, has been playing regularly for his 22nd-placed club this season and scored a stunning goal in a 1-1 draw with the Millers, who occupy bottom spot, at AESSEAL New York Stadium in November.

He bagged the winner in a 1-0 victory at Bristol City last Saturday.

It is reported that in the summer of 2020 Chair was on a kayaking trip that started in the Ardennes and ended in Bazeilles, France, and threw a rock at a man named only as Niels T.

It is an accusation he has denied.

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad says that the prosecutor said: “According to several people involved, Ilias Chair lashed out with the stone at Niels T who immediately lost consciousness.

“The consequences for Niels T were dramatic. He suffered a serious skull fracture of two centimetres. He was admitted to Reims hospital in critical condition.

“He would then have to recover in a Belgian hospital for a long time. He was unable to work as a truck-driver for a long time and to this day he still experiences the consequences of that blow, which almost killed him.”