Sheffield Wednesday talisman bemoans 'unlucky' debut campaign

The 27-year-old midfield man has shown, when he has played, that he can be very useful to manager, Garry Monk, putting in a number of showings in blue and white following his move from Queens Park Rangers back in the summer.

And it would appear that the stats back up how pivotal Luongo can be, with the club winning just two of the 18 Championship games that he’s missed this season, losing just five of the 18 that he featured in.

The Owls have won only one league game since his red card at Blackburn Rovers (which was ultimately rescinded) and injury woes that followed, but the suspension of football in England may have given him a chance to get back and help Monk’s side finish the season strongly.

Even if Luongo plays all nine of Wednesday’s remaining league games in 2019/20, he’ll still have played less games than in any of the previous six seasons, and that’s certainly something he’s not happy about.

He told Yorkshire Live, "It has been the most frustrating year in my career. I have not been able to play every week. I had to wait for my chance to break into the team and then I got injured… I think when I have had the chance to play I have shown what I am about. I think I played with a lot of passion, did really well and scored a couple of goals."

Meanwhile, regarding his bad luck with injuries, which mean he hasn’t played since mid-January, the Australian international said "I was literally a day away from coming back and playing with the team and I was pushing myself trying to get fitter and I pulled my calf. I had an abductor injury which I was playing through for a little bit. It didn't feel right in my last game (against Blackburn).

"Literally, the day my red card got rescinded was when I got my scan results and it showed I had a grade two tear in my abductor. The funny thing is I don't know how long I had that for but I had a few weeks of rehab on it.

"I look back now and think 'should I have gone for an extra run or taken an extra day off?' It is normal, though, for people to get injured somewhere else when you have been injured or rehabbing because your body is compensating in other areas. You push yourself to get back. It was just unlucky."

Wednesday returned to training yesterday for the first time in over two months, with the English Football League hoping to organise a restart of fixtures around June 13th.

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