Queens Park Rangers boss Chris Ramsey desperate to keep Charlie Austin

Queens Park Rangers boss Chris Ramsey has admitted that the club could have a fight on its hands to keep striker Charlie Austin this summer.

The 25-year-old scored 18 goals during the R's disastrous 2014-15 Premier League campaign.

Austin's form in front of goal recently earned him his first call-up to the England squad for the team's matches against Republic of Ireland and Slovenia.

While the forward has not handed in a transfer request following QPR's drop down to the Championship, Ramsey believes that Austin will be eager to join a top-flight club before the start of next season.

"I would imagine anybody who has scored those goals and is going to the England camp would not be looking elsewhere other than to be playing in the Premier League," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News.

"He'll want to play higher [than the Championship] but we'll make every effort to keep him because he's somebody that we need. It's very difficult to buy strikers of that pedigree to come straight into your team and starting scoring immediately. That's what we're going to need because we must hit the ground running."

Austin found the net for QPR on the final day of the season during their 5-1 thrashing by Leicester City.