Missing out on the signing of Steve Cook to Nottingham Forest will have been a tough pill to swallow for Queens Park Rangers. 

The West London side had their sights firmly set on the centre back and were seemingly in the driving seat for his signature, only for Forest to swoop in at the last minute to steal the 30-year-old from under their noses.

As a result of this latest development, Mark Warburton and co will need to return to the drawing board as they scour the market for more options that could potentially fill the defensive role that they have in mind.

There are plenty of good options that are plying their trade in the Football League of course, but the QPR boss has shown in the past that it is good to sometimes stick to what you know when it comes to transfers.

And it is for that reason that we could see the R's once again raiding the Scottish market, which is an environment that Warburton knows all too well from his previous spell at Glasgow Rangers.

One name that could well crop up on his wish list is John Souttar at Hearts, a talented, ball playing centre back that has already caught the attentions of other English sides in recent months.

The 25-year-old has plied his trade north of the border for the entirety of his career to date, which has inevitably led to the player himself indicting that he would be keen on a new challenge down south, especially after seeing his brother Harry thrive at Stoke City.

Warburton's links in the Scottish game remain strong to this day and there is no doubt that Souttar is a player that he will be aware of.

Add to the fact that the defender is due to be out of contract at the end of the season and it is easy to see that this has all the potentials of being an almost carbon copy of their proposed move for Cook, whose Bournemouth contract was set to run out next summer.

Souttar of course is also five years younger than Cook and for that reason a deal for the Hearts man would represent an investment that is made with the future in mind rather than looking for a quick fix.

In short, as one door closes for the R's, another certainly has the potential to open almost simultaneously.