I was nominated for Ballon d’Or alongside Messi and Ronaldo despite playing in League One… now I’m set for Prem debut

MASSIMO LUONGO was once nominated for the Ballon d’Or — while playing for Swindon.

So maybe the midfielder should be called Messi-Mo.

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Massimo Luongo is about to fulfil his dream of playing in the Premier League with Ipswich[/caption]

AFP

The midfielder was nominated after winning the 2015 Asia Cup with Australia[/caption]

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Luongo played for League One Swindon at the time of his nomination[/caption]

The current Ipswich star was on the list to be voted the world’s best player alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar despite being in League One.

And as the Tractor Boys prepare for their first Premier League game in 22 years following back-to-back promotions, Luongo joked: “If we do the treble then maybe I can get on that list again!”

Luongo, whose team hosts Liverpool in their opening game, was honoured by Fifa after winning the Asia Cup for Australia in 2015 — where he was named player of the tournament.

He told SunSport: “I was a League One player at Swindon and when I first learnt I’d been nominated for the Ballon d’Or I thought someone was winding me up.

“It was so far-fetched. I didn’t even want to talk about it because it was ridiculous.

“But now it’s nice to tell the young lads at Ipswich about it or to know it’s a good pub quiz question.

“It’s something a lot of people cannot list as their claim to fame.”

Only now — nine years later — Luongo is expected to finally make his Premier League debut, a month shy of his 32nd birthday.

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It was a chance he thought had passed him by when he left Tottenham 11 years ago having only come on as a sub in a League Cup game against Stoke.

He actually made his senior league debut while on loan with the Tractor Boys in 2012, in the Championship, but then boss Mick McCarthy sent him back to White Hart Lane stating he “wanted a different kind of player”.

So it must be satisfying after so many years of hard graft in the EFL with Swindon, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday — where he got relegated to League One — and Middlesbrough to now have arrived at the top table of English football.

The Sydney-born midfielder moved to England aged 18 after impressing Tottenham on trial — and he believed he was destined to be a Premier League star.

But he was left open-mouthed by the talent of Luka Modric.

He said: “When I went to Tottenham and Modric was there, I thought, ‘I’m better than him!’.

“He was where I wanted to be and I felt I could play with him or do this, that and the other.

“But then you see a player like him up close and you realise, ‘Oh actually, I can’t do that yet’.

“Modric — who was and still is my favourite player — was a huge figure for me when I was coming through the academy and Under-21s at Spurs.”

Luongo rejoined Ipswich after Middlesbrough threw him on a scrapheap in January 2023 having not played a game for Chris Wilder or Michael Carrick in his six-month spell on Teesside.

And it is ironic his Premier League chance has come at a club which had sent him packing all those years ago.

Luongo said: “It wasn’t a good stint for me under Paul Jewell and then Mick, who sent me back to Spurs.

“I always reflect that Ipswich was the right club at the wrong time. Timing is the most important thing.

“I’ve come back here and it’s the right time and I’ve completed some unfinished business — which includes playing in the Premier League.

“After I left Spurs for Swindon and then reached a certain age, I didn’t think playing Premier League football was ever going to be a thing.

“It feels like I’ve taken a scenic route to getting there. The players here — especially the ones that were with us in League One — deserve this chance after all the grafting you have to do in the EFL and the amount of games you play.

“Getting to the Premier League this way makes that feeling even better — it is a reward for persisting and not giving up, not moving abroad or moving back to Australia.

“I’ve stayed with it and it’s paid off after picking a good place to do it.

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Lionel Messi pipped Luongo to the Ballon d’or that year[/caption]

“Facing Liverpool at Portman Road is a real ‘pinch me’ moment.”

Luongo is particularly excited to be going to Tottenham in November, where he will be reunited with his former Australia boss Ange Postecoglou.

He said: “Ange elevated me into international football playing for Swindon and he didn’t really have any business to do that.

“I owe him a debt of gratitude so I cannot wait to see him again.”

Luongo is one of SIXTEEN players still at the club that won promotion from League One under Kieran McKenna in April 2023.

Ipswich have so far made six summer signings to prepare for the Prem — getting Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea after a brilliant loan spell last season; Jacob Greaves from Hull; Liam Delap from Manchester City; keeper Arijanet Muric from Burnley; Conor Townsend from West Brom and Ben Johnson from West Ham.

But Luongo agrees the biggest signing this summer was McKenna’s ink drying on a new four-year deal despite interest from Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton.

The Aussie said: “It was a huge relief. Most of us, especially those of us who came through League One, we’ve always thought, ‘He knows us, trusts us, knows our strengths and weaknesses’.

“Having a new manager, it would have killed all the good work of the last two years. We’d have had to do it from scratch and impress again, and a new boss may bring new players.

“So thank God he’s staying because, first, you don’t know what will happen and second, the atmosphere at our training ground and the way we play is so positive.

“He was a big part of creating that culture and building it over the past 2½ years he’s been here.

“That would have been difficult had he gone. It’s vital he stayed — not just for the players but the whole club going forward.”

Last season all three clubs promoted to the Premier League were relegated.

But Luongo believes that Ipswich can keep their heads above water.
He said: “Yes, 100 per cent we stay up. Without being too negative, that’s our goal.

“We’ve got that culture where we don’t have a ceiling. No one expected us to have back-to-back promotions.

“Last summer when the fixtures came out every game looked difficult — this time it’s a different galaxy!”