Ipswich Town Manager Kieran McKenna will not take midfielder Massimo Luongo with him to the Premier League after he feigned injury on multiple occassions. 

Massimo Luongo, a midfielder for Ipswich Town,  announced his retirement from the Australian national team.

In the 2015 Asian Cup final, he scored for Australia, earning him 45 caps.

If he had been chosen for the Asian Cup in January and February of the following year, he might have missed a portion of Ipswich’s campaign for promotion to the Premier League.

“This hasn’t been a decision I’ve taken lightly, but I’ve got to prioritise managing my body as my career goes on,” the woman, 31, added.

Luongo participated in two World Cups as well, but injuries derailed his international career. Nevertheless, he was called back to the team for the first time in four years in October during Australia’s victory against New Zealand at Brentford.

“It was a hugely frustrating time to be on the sidelines so regularly and to be honest, there were many points in the last few years where I felt my international career had passed me by,” he said.

“Coming back into camp was an amazing experience and to be able to get back on the pitch against New Zealand was a really nice moment for me and my family.”

After his contract with Middlesbrough was terminated, Luongo joined Ipswich in January and assisted the team in winning promotion from League One the previous year.

This season, he has made 24 appearances and scored twice. Ipswich has won 16 of its 22 games and lost just two, keeping pace with champions Leicester City at the top of the Championship.

“He’s been through the highs and lows of football and throughout his career has shown us his prodigious talent, his incredible professionalism and his qualities as a leader,” Graham Arnold, the head coach of Australia, stated.

“We were overjoyed to see him fit again and settle into a club where he was playing well and loving football after a difficult period of injuries.

“It was fantastic to have him back in camp working with some of our young midfielders, who I know took a lot out of that experience.”