Massimo Luongo recently spoke out about his debut season at Sheffield Wednesday, admitting he found it ‘frustrating’ to suffer so many injuries.
The 27-year-old had issues with his knee, groin, head and calf over the course of the campaign, causing him to only make two league appearances in 2020. He did impress when called upon, but such moments were few and far between.
A lot of supporters on Owlstalk don’t believe they’ve seen the best of Luongo and hope he can fix his injury problems to nail down a starting place next season.
Hirstyboywonder: “He has looked good in patches this season, but even when he was playing he didn’t look fully fit to be a box-to-box midfielder.”
Inspector Lestrade: “Not seen him have more than a decent game yet. Seems to disappear for long spells and doesn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck. Was quite encouraged by the reports of him when we first signed him, but he’s not lived up to them. Needs to up his game and input for me.”
Dewsburyowl58: “He’s never been fully fit and settled with us yet. He looks decent and should get a run in the team if he can stay fit.”
Gurujuan: “Fitness has obviously been an issue, but hopefully he can resolve those issues. He does seem to have the tools to be able to do a bit of everything.”
WalthamOwl: “The little he has played for us, he has looked a very decent player. Really hope he comes back in to the team ASAP (… ) because I really rate him.”
Holmowl: “I think he looks really decent. Until this season, his fitness had been excellent. Let’s hope his injury troubles are over cause we looked a better team when he played.”
Dylan93: “I don’t think he’ll play enough for us to know his best position. Had many injuries already this year. Hopefully that’s not the case.”
Luongo joined Wednesday from Queens Park Rangers last summer and made 21 appearances in all competitions. The 27-year-old racked up 1090/3780 minutes of football and 820/3330 minutes in the Championship.
Despite a disappointing debut season, Luongo is still an important player to Garry Monk. Sam Hutchinson, Kieran Lee and Joey Pelupessy are out of contract this summer and have yet to put pen to paper on an extension, so Wednesday can’t afford to lose the Australian international too.
Supporters are hoping Luongo can stay fit enough to play a prominent role next season, as he’s hardly featured in 2020. The 27-year-old played in 80/92 Championship games in his last two seasons at QPR, so his track record was good before making the switch.