Queens Park Rangers caretaker manager Chris Ramsey insists Adel Taarabt will be given the chance to resurrect his career as he looks to inject more "flair" into the team's survival bid.
Taarabt has started just one Premier League match this season and was labelled "overweight" in October by Harry Redknapp, who resigned as manager on Tuesday.
Ramsey will be in the dugout with assistant manager Kevin Bond for Saturday's home game against Southampton and the former Tottenham coach says Taarabt is fit enough to play.
"I'm hoping he's going to have the impact that he's capable of," Ramsey said.
"I've known Adel since he was 17, which is when he came to Tottenham, and we've had a lot of talks and meetings over that period of time.
"I think he knows me. He's not going to get more special treatment than anybody else.
"If Adel is involved, I would imagine that he would put in the shift that's required.
"Whenever a new player comes in you try to give them as clean a slate as possible.
"If he doesn't put a shift in, then he will know about it. I'm sure his talents can be utilised.
"There is many a player like him, probably ones as talented as Adel who haven't even got this far.
"It's up to him. He's at a crossroads in his career, mid-20s, so he could kick on from here."
Tim Sherwood is the clear favourite to fill the vacancy at Loftus Road, not least because he has worked with both Ramsey and QPR's director of football Les Ferdinand at Tottenham.
Sherwood revitalised Spurs' attacking verve during his short tenure at White Hart Lane and could try to rejuvenate Taarabt, as he did so successfully with Emmanuel Adebayor last season.
"There are a lot of similar views in how Tim and I think the game should be played," Ramsey said.
"What players should do, how they should act, how they should respect the football club that pay them handsomely; how they should grab on to every season that there is when you're a professional footballer, those sort of values are things that we share.
"Myself, Les and Tim worked on the development side at Tottenham for four years, and I worked there for nine years all together, and we think allowing players to express themselves is an important part of a player's development.
"Obviously if you're working at first-team level you have players who do have their own individual flair - people like Adel, Matt Phillips, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Leroy Fer - and you want to maximise that as much as you can."
Ramsey added: "Some of the players that we'll be playing, I want to see them express themselves a bit more so we can get our goal tally up."
Rangers are second bottom of the table and victory against Southampton on Saturday would be their first victory in eight matches.
"Southampton have been outstanding, a breath of fresh air," Ramsey added.
"For once we haven't got the same four teams at the top and they're a force to be reckoned with."