Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have heightened their interest in Massimo Luongo after his recent form according to reports in Australia .

The 25-year-old has been impressive of late and has thrived in front of goal in QPR's set up , so will have no shortage of admirers.

Luongo has two years remaining on his contract and should play for the Socceroos during the summer's World Cup where good performances would see his value rocket.

Massimo Luongo

Given the Rs recent cost cutting measures to get on the right side of financial fair play, it wouldn't be a surprise if they had to accept a bid in the future.

Former Tottenham and QPR scout David Magrone and Luongo's adviser who brought him to Spurs from Sydney as a youngster, believes the Australian can play at a higher level either in the Premier League or abroad with Malaga also said to be interested.

He said: "Mass is doing nothing different but the big change is that he's been scoring and that gets you in the headlines," said Magrone, who initially spotted Luongo in Sydney and brought him to Tottenham as a junior.

"I have no doubt he has the capacity to play in the Premier League, and also in Europe, whether that's in Spain or Italy.

"When I was at Tottenham (as chief European scout) Tom Carroll, Ryan Mason, Jake Livermore and Nabil Bentaleb all broke through.

"Mass is just as good, if not better than all of them - and that's when he was at Tottenham.

"He's an even better player now after 70 odd games in the Championship.

On the ball: Massimo Luongo playing for Australia

"Livermore was an England international and he played alongside Mass in centre midfield for Spurs' (Under-23s).

"There's no question of whether Mass is good enough, it’s a case of whether somebody will give him the chance.”

Villa, Palace and Malaga have all admired Luongo in the past. The Midlands side attempted to sign him from Swindon, while the Spanish club are believed to have made an enquiry during January.

Magrone continued: "The argument has always been he doesn't score enough goals or create enough assists.

"But he's usually been the one who does the stuff before all those stats come into play, by winning the ball and releasing it.

"But he can also create and score, if you're willing to let him play a riskier type of game.

"And you can see that in recent weeks. Perhaps he's been a little more single-minded in his approach, especially when he's in and around the penalty area."


