Luongo: New Contract Has Been Mentioned But Nothing Official Thursday, 28th Dec 2023 19:59 Town midfielder Massimo Luongo has revealed that he has no plans to leave when his contract expires in June next year and would like nothing better than to extend his time at Portman Road, perhaps even in a coaching capacity. Luongo was asked about the prospect of staying with the Blues and replied: “Maybe. To be fair, I’m doing my coaching badges this year and the plan has always been to settle somewhere and coach. “In the back of my head, I used to think QPR might be the one, or maybe Bromley, where I’m living, but Ipswich could definitely be on that list. I think I need another year, or another couple of years, before I can mix it, but the plan could be that.” On the subject of a new contract, he added: “It has been mentioned, nothing official, but I’ve got plenty of time. I’ve got a full year to do that and we’re going into January. “Before a week ago I was going to the Asian Cup so things can change quite quickly and they can go the other way quite quickly as well.” Part of Luongo’s decision to retire from international football with Australia – he was capped 45 times – was based on wanting to stay with Town, rather than miss up to six Championship fixtures, as will be the case with defender Cameron Burgess, who will depart for Qatar, where the tournament is being staged, early next month after being called up this season and making three appearances for far for the Socceroos. Asked about the timing of his recent announcement, Luongo said: “It has always been on the cards. I think me having about five years out, with injuries and such, I sort of always thought ‘I’ve done that and it was brilliant for me. If I get called up, great, and if I don’t it’s nothing for me, I’ll just move on and focus on my club career.’ “I did get called up again and it was brilliant, but I’ve got a young family now and the kids are a bit older and they miss me. Suddenly, I’m not playing as much as I’d like to for them and I’m away from my family for two weeks at the time, or a month in January, which was a big factor. “I think I was always going to do it, it’s just with the Asian Cup coming round so quickly and me not being the old Mass of Australia, where I’m always going to play and stuff like that, I think it was a good time for me to just call it now and be able to relax and not stress about it. “I can focus on my football here, my club football going forward, my family and just support them as I’ve always done. “There was a feeling in my belly that it wasn’t really my choice. I wasn’t playing because I wasn’t being selected and now that I was being selected it was nice to be able to speak to the manager and make a decision together. “That was nice and a better feeling than all the other things, like the stress, the travelling and leaving my family. I was able to go out how I wanted to.” Asked if he had any regrets when he saw his name missing from the Asian Cup-bound squad he replied: “No, definitely not. Maybe if Burg [Cameron Burgess] wasn’t a part of it I would have been a bit like ‘I don’t know him, I could have been him, would I have played over him, maybe?’ No, I think I’ll become a proper supporter now, especially because my mate’s there, so I’ll be rooting for him.” Burgess has made rapid progress at international level since being called up for the first time this season, playing three times and turning in displays that made it impossible for the Australians to overlook him for the tournament in Qatar, whereas he was quite a way down the pecking order, even after helping Town to win promotion from League One back in May. Luongo said: “You know what, I look at the squad now and there’s a few League One players, a few boys in Scotland and sometimes, you know, they don’t have the access to watch us. “If we’re on TV they’ll watch us every week but if we’re not we go under the radar and they miss us a little bit. At one point I thought ‘We’re in League One and we’re not getting called up’. “Even though we swept the league last year, I thought ‘Come on!’, not for myself, but it came out in interviews that we had a 6ft 5ins centre-back and he’s not even being selected. I thought it would help me to get back in as well. “They do things a bit differently over there. Because they’re not here, they don’t feel what we feel. They’re not in the media. In The Sun paper you turn around and there’s football everywhere but over there you’ve got AFL, cricket. It’s really hard and I understand. “The A-League is getting thrown in your face 24/7 when you live there. No one really knows what goes on here, so it’s hard. “But once the media jump on it then the manager can’t ignore it and then suddenly you have to be selected. Or a boy’s scoring in the German league every week and as soon as the media jumps on it it’s a big thing. “From Cam’s point of view, he’s had to be really patient and he hasn’t become a good player overnight or anything like that, he’s always been a good player. “If anything, it’s opened the door up for other boys in League One or other boys at the lower teams in Scotland or German second league, for example. There are good players everywhere and you’ve just got to give them a chance I think.” Had Luongo not quit the international scene and headed for Qatar, it could have meant returning six weeks later and finding his place in the Town side was under threat. Was that in his mind when he took the decision to call it a day with the Socceroos? “Yes and no,” he said. “I think coming back and having to catch up with everyone was in my head a little bit. “I think I’m at that age where I can’t afford to come off the gas at all after being fit all the time, especially for this manager. I think I have to be on it all the time and I have to be ready all the time. “If I go away for four or five weeks, whatever it is, I don’t play, we don’t really train, and I come back and I’m having to catch up for at least a week, let’s say, maybe two weeks, and in those two weeks, who knows, they could have brought in a midfielder and the boys could be flying. “I’d be happy to do my part but I don’t think I could do my part off the bench if I wasn’t fit anyway. “I’ve been to two [Asian Cup tournaments, 2015 when he scored in the final and was named the Most Valuable Player as Australia won the trophy and 2019] anyway – I played the first one, I didn’t play the second one. “The one I played, I came back and I was young, but I was exhausted by the end of the season. My body just wasn’t what it was at the start of the season and the second one, I wasn’t playing and I came back unfit. “It’s international football, it’s part of it, that was a big factor as well, just coming back and I want to be as best as I can for the boys when I come back. “I don’t think I could have been like that. That’s in the distance and you know us as a group, we just worry about the next game or the next couple of games. “Cam and me, we are two people at different stages of our international careers. I started when I was 20-21, he’s just starting now, he’s got years ahead of him and he’s doing so well. I remember when I first came in and it was brilliant for my career. “It gave me a lot of confidence to be playing at that level, it took me to a lot of great places and although it was tough, it was a great experience. “To be involved in the lead-up to the World Cup will be even better, so I wish Cam and the rest of the players the very best for the future. It will be brilliant for them.” Finally, turning his attention to tomorrow night’s home clash with his former club, QPR, where he spent four years up to 2019, part of it when Neil Warnock was manager, Luongo added: “I’ve had a lot of different types of managers in my career and I loved it at QPR. “I didn’t really want to go but it was at a time, and where the club was, that I had to. I still keep in touch with club staff that are still there and I always follow them and look to see how they are getting on. I always look forward to playing against them, especially at their place, and when I do I like to get one over on them.”
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