Socceroos and QPR midfielder Massimo Luongo has opened up on life in the Championship, highlighting the gruelling nature of the league as pivotal in his development for both club and country.
Player of the Tournament at the 2015 Asian Cup, Luongo has since made 33 appearances for QPR and has been entrusted with a new box-to-box role by manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink this season.
The 24-year-old was quick to play down the negative views on the division as ‘second-rate’, telling the Daily Football Show the Championship is as good a league as any to cut your teeth in.
“I always have a problem with this question,” he said.
“When I first moved to QPR after a good Asian Cup people were saying ‘why are you going to the Championship?’ You should aim higher. You should go to Italy, Spain, somewhere where they play good football.”
“Honestly if you can play week, in week out, for two-three seasons on the bounce, every single weekend, Tuesday-Saturday… It’s a massive thing.”
“Yes, some games are not pretty but you get that everywhere you go. It’s even harder when it’s not pretty.”
LISTEN:
Luongo has started all four games so far for QPR this season, currently in sixth place as they aim to work their way back into the Premier League.
A pivotal part of Hasselbaink’s midfield three, Luongo described the competitiveness of the Championship as a positive that all the Australians plying their trade there can take to the national team.
“You are never comfortable. You are playing against a bottom side and they give you a 3-0 beating because they want to stay up. There is never an easy game, there is never a comfortable game in the Championship,” he said.
“When you’re never comfortable you almost have to fight for your life.”
“If you do well, as a lot of the Aussies are at the moment, you can take that into the Socceroos. You can give something to other international teams like the Middle East teams who are going to rough you up.”
“Once you have a season in the Championship you never lose that side of the game.”
