Massimo Luongo – Queens Park Rangers
Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Tim Cahill all competed at this years Asian Cup, however none of the three were the most valuable players of the tournament, Aussie youngster Massimo Luongo was handed that honour. Socceroo fans may not of expected Luongo to feature so much in the competition, but he came out with two goals, four assists and a winner’s medal. Swindon Town boss Mark Cooper told the Guardian “He’s the David Beckham of Australia now.”
Massimo moved to England aged eighteen, he joined the youth ranks at Spurs. He had two loan spells, one with Ipswich and one with Swindon. At the end of the loan spell at Swindon, Spurs sold Luongo to Swindon for a measly fee of 400k. His last season at Swindon was superb, Luongo’s potential really started to show, he appeared 37 times in the League for the Robins and scored six times and made eight assists. ‘Mass’ had the chance to give Swindon a parting gift, that gift being promotion. The Wiltshire based club made it to the League One play-off final, but were unlucky to be facing such a dominant Preston side.
It wasn’t long until QPR boss Chris Ramsey came knocking on Mark Cooper’s door looking to bring Massimo and Ben Gladwin to Loftus Road, the deal was successful and Swindon received around four million from the Hoops. Luongo will once again be linking up with Chris Ramsey once again since the pair were both at Spurs. Massimo will be joining a very different QPR side this season, Chris Ramsey has refreshed an ageing side and QPR look fit to challenge to bounce back. QPR are already very strong in the midfield, so Luongo might have to fight to get game-time. However, the likes of Leroy Fer and Sandro will be sought after by Premier League clubs, also players of that stature will be looking to play at the highest level. I doubt Chris Ramsey can ignore the class that Luongo showed at the Asian Cup, expect big things from the little Aussie.
