Firepower may not be one-sided affair
ON an August day in 2013 Tottenham announced the signing of Danish star Christian Eriksen – the man who poses such a threat to the Socceroos tomorrow – to huge fanfare.
A few hours later, to rather less fanfare, they confirmed the sale of Australian midfielder Massimo Luongo to League One side Swindon, for about 3.6 per cent of the fee that Eriksen commanded.
Almost five years later Luongo and Eriksen could play on the same field, with Luongo a serious option for Socceroos boss Bert van Marwijk as he seeks a more attacking formation.
Though Luongo missed out against France, he is highly rated by van Marwijk, and was termed the best midfielder in England outside the Premiership by his former manager at Queens Park Rangers, Ian Holloway.
Former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou also valued Luongo’s football intelligence, bringing him into the 2014 World Cup squad aged just 21, and starting him in the first game of the Asian Cup six months later.
“I remember he first came to watch me (playing for Swindon in the third tier of English football), and it was the windiest day, the goalkicks were going back into the corners,” Luongo said.
“I thought, with the way he wants to play, I was no chance. But then he seemed to like something.
“Though I didn’t actually play at the World Cup, I think he always planned to play me in the first game of the Asian Cup, but I didn’t think it would go on beyond that.
“We had (Mark) Bresciano and Millsy (Mark Milligan) on the bench.
“But something clicked, and I proved to him I deserved it. Fair play to Ange, he could easily have played Bresc, but he kept the faith.”
The reward was a medal and to be named player of the tournament, seven years after he trialled at Tottenham, and was dumbfounded to be offered a two-year deal.
“I remember, ability-wise, (the other players) were on a different level,” he said. “I just couldn’t keep up, so for the trial I played one touch and just worked my nuts off.
“To be fair I just ended up smashing people, but they signed me.”
Though he was highly rated by Tottenham’s then academy boss, Tim Sherwood, the stars in the first team blocked his path and Luongo eventually went to Swindon in search of firstteam football.
Now utterly established at QPR, he is set to be captain this season at 25.