Luongo seals mystery deal to beat transfer deadline

Massimo Luongo’s long Queens Park Rangers goodbye will finally see him depart the Championship club ahead of Thursday’s closure of the English transfer window.

Just where the Socceroos midfielder will be playing his football this season has been a source of debate ever since Hoops director of football Les Ferdinand confirmed in June that he - and the rest of the squad - were up for sale.

Luongo, 26, has been strongly linked with fellow Championship club Nottingham Forest, who have been tracking him for a year.

But it’s unclear if a deal with them has been agreed, or if he is heading elsewhere.

In any event, sources in the UK have confirmed that Luongo’s four-year Loftus Road tenure is over and he will leave in the coming days for an undisclosed fee.

Luongo was omitted from the R’s pre-season trip to Austria by new coach Mark Warburton, who ironically tried to sign him during his time in charge at Forest.

Luongo was conspicuous by his absence again from the QPR squad for the weekend’s season-opening 2-1 win at Stoke City as the fine details of his exit were being hammered out.

With just a year to run on his contract, the sale of Luongo - signed as part of a $7 million package deal from Swindon in 2015 - isn’t expected to net QPR anything more than $6 million.

He carved out a solid reputation as a midfield general at Loftus Road where he became a fan favourite over the years.

He racked up 152 Championship appearances, scoring 10 goals along the way.