Queens Park Rangers winger David Wheeler hasn't had the easiest of times recently, but his latest loan spell might be the one that breathes fresh life into his flagging career.

The 28-year-old made his name playing for Paul Tisdale at Exeter City, plucked from non-league side Staines in 2013. He spent four years at St James' Park, scoring 33 goals and turning out 151 times in the league, 95 of those as starts.

He helped them to a play-off final and eventually moved to QPR in the summer of 2017 for an undisclosed fee. It was meant to be the stepping stone to the next level, but that isn't how it panned out.

He struggled to force a game at Loftus Road, making just five starts and scoring once. A loan move was agreed to Portsmouth this summer, a League One side with promotion aspirations. Again, the move flopped and after one start he was recalled by Rangers.

That left him in limbo, but his former mentor and manager Tisdale came to the rescue. He took him to League Two promotion chasers MK Dons, hoping to love him back to life and maybe get the sort of form out of him he once showed for the Grecians.

Wheeler must surely be delighted with the faith his former manager has shown in him. After a nightmare 18 months he's involved in action once more, making as many appearances for MK Dons in two months as he did in the league for QPR in a year.

Not only that, but he's rewarded that faith with his first league goal since September 2017. He grabbed a leveller for the Dons as they came from behind to beat Macclesfield 3-1 at the weekend and move back into the automatic promotion spots.

It's a sharp turnaround for Wheeler and one that surely leaves him in a great position moving into the end of the season. Regular games and hopefully a few goals will see his stock rise and maybe secure him a move away from Loftus Road.

Could he thrive once more under Tisdale? If they're promoted, maybe so, but if they're not his run of matches could see him secure another League One move.

At 28-years-old he'll still want to play as high as he can and whilst he clearly has loyalty to his current manager, he has a duty to himself to test his talents at the very highest level he can.

His recent experience has told us that's probably not the Championship, but after his first MK Dons goal this weekend, he'll certainly be hoping for regular football at a comparable level, if not higher, come the start of next season.