JOSHUA King missed today's contest against QPR after struggling with a dead leg, confirmed Cherries boss Jason Tindall.

The striker played twice for Norway in the past week, but was substituted after 65 minutes of Wednesday's 1-0 win over Northern Ireland.

King was heavily linked with a move away from Cherries in the transfer window, with bids from Torino and West Ham rejected.

But yesterday's deadline day came and went without an improved offer for King, meaning he will stay at Cherries until at least January, despite his hopes to get a move away following the club's relegation from the Premier League.

The 28-year-old has featured just once for Cherries this season, due mainly to injury and also having pulled out late on from the squad to face Coventry earlier this month due to a migraine.

Asked if it was his international duty exploits or the transfer speculation which ruled King out of the 0-0 draw with QPR, Tindall told the Daily Echo: "Yeah, all that was the reason why Josh wasn’t involved."

He added: "Kingy had only just got back from international on late Thursday evening and he picked up a dead leg while he was away with Norway, hence why he came off in the (Northern Ireland) game.

"So he wasn’t really 100 per cent fit. But I’m looking forward to having him back for future games."