Christopher Samba "wept" when he left Anzhi Makhachkala

Anzhi Makhachkala director German Tkachenko has revealed that defender Christopher Samba cried when he left the Russian club for Queens Park Rangers.

The former Blackburn Rovers centre-back returned to the Premier League on the final day of the January transfer window after QPR triggered Samba's £12.5m release clause.

"At QPR he will earn almost as much as he did at Anzhi," Tkachenko told Sports.ru. "In my view QPR have lost their minds. When they agreed to pay his release fee we wept. He wept.

"Everybody says that he ran away from the club, but that's not true. He didn't put any pressure on the club until we received an offer from QPR for £12.5m, the amount required by his contract."

Meanwhile, Samba's current club remain at the bottom of the league table.