Ipswich Town massively benefitted from Sheffield Wednesday transfer fumble | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday's failure to tie Massimo Luongo down to a new contract opened the door for Ipswich Town to sign him.

Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday will be back in the same division next season after the Tractor Boys' relegation from the Premier League was confirmed.

After an epic battle to escape League One, Ipswich and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship together in 2023, but it is fair to say they went in opposite directions after returning to the second tier.

While the Owls only narrowly managed to avoid relegation last season, the Tractor Boys went on to secure back-to-back promotions, but unfortunately for Kieran McKenna's side, their stay in the top flight has been short and unsuccessful.

Ipswich and Wednesday may have been able to celebrate promotion together two seasons ago, but that is not the only thing the two clubs have in common, with a number of players having spent time at both Portman Road and Hillsborough over the years.

The likes of Connor Wickham, David McGoldrick and Jordan Rhodes have previously represented both clubs, but one member of the existing Tractor Boys squad - midfielder Massimo Luongo - will be particularly familiar to Owls supporters.

Sheffield Wednesday's Massimo Luongo miss came back to haunt them

Luongo joined Wednesday from Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2019, and having established a reputation as a solid Championship performer during his time at Loftus Road, he looked like a strong signing for the South Yorkshire outfit.

However, Luongo was plagued by injury in the early stages of his Owls career, and he made just 43 appearances across his first two seasons at Hillsborough, with the second of those campaigns ending in relegation to League One.

Luongo's injury problems continued during the first half of the 2021-22 season in the third tier, but he certainly made a big impression after returning to fitness in the New Year, winning the club's Player of the Month award for January.

That would be a sign of things to come as Luongo remained clear of injury for the rest of the season, and the midfield partnership he formed with George Byers and Barry Bannan was crucial to the late-season surge that saw Wednesday reach the play-offs, but they were unable to secure promotion, losing to Sunderland in the semi-finals.

Luongo ended the season with one goal and five assists in 30 appearances in all competitions, and having proved his fitness, he was offered a new contract by the Owls, but he decided against committing his future to the club.

It seemed that Luongo had a Championship move in the pipeline after he went on trial with Reading shortly after leaving Hillsborough, but he was not taken on by the Berkshire side, and he remained without a club until September, when he joined Middlesbrough on a short-term deal.

On paper, the move to the Riverside Stadium looked like an exciting one for Luongo, but he failed to make a single appearance for Boro, only featuring in the matchday squad on two occasions, and after being overlooked by both Chris Wilder and Michael Carrick, his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in January.

With his career at something of a crossroads, Luongo then dropped back into League One with Ipswich, but far from being a backwards step, it marked the start of a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the midfielder.

With Ipswich and Wednesday locked in a fierce battle for automatic promotion from League One, Luongo's arrival at Portman Road certainly added some extra spice to the situation, particularly as the manner of his departure from Hillsborough left a sour taste in the mouth of many Owls supporters.

Ipswich's decline in form over the winter period had allowed Wednesday to steal a march in the race for the top two, and Darren Moore's side sat a huge eight points clear of McKenna's men in mid-February, while they also had a game in hand, but that all changed after Luongo's introduction to the team.

Luongo formed an outstanding partnership with Sam Morsy at the heart of the midfield, and he helped his side to 13 wins and two draws in their final 15 league games of the season, which was enough for the Tractor Boys to overhaul their significant deficit and beat the Owls to automatic promotion.

Thankfully for Wednesday, they did eventually manage to secure promotion themselves after one of the most dramatic play-off campaigns in EFL history, but if Luongo was feeling any regrets about rejecting a new contract at Hillsborough, they would have been firmly put to bed by what happened next at Portman Road.

Luongo's new lease of life in Suffolk continued in the Championship, and the 32-year-old scored three goals in 44 appearances in all competitions last season to help Ipswich to back-to-back promotions, with the club returning to the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.

Unfortunately for Luongo, he has not featured as regularly as he would have hoped in the top flight, and he is facing an uncertain future at the club with his contract set to expire this summer, but even if he is not offered a new deal, he will forever be remembered for his role in the Tractor Boys' recent success.

Speaking last year, Luongo revealed that his decision to turn down Wednesday's contract proposal had "nothing to do with them", instead pointing to his desire to move back down south to be closer to his family, but while his post-Hillsborough career did not initially go as planned, it has certainly worked out well in the end, and he will surely go down as one of Ipswich's best ever free agent signings.