His grandpa was an Indonesian Sultan, his great-grandfather the first Indonesian consul-general in Turkey.
His father is Italian, his mum Indonesian, and he talks with an English clip.
But thankfully for the Socceroos, Massimo Luongo is Australia’s.
The Socceroos’ shooting star was a relative unknown in his native country a week ago – he’d never played a top-level game in Australia.
Now, after two breakout displays in the Asian Cup, the 22-year-old is earning rave reviews.
Socceroos great Tim Cahill calls Luongo his favourite player; coach Ange Postecoglou says he’s outstanding.
Other Australian teammates also gush – Mark Milligan marvels at his rare composure; Matt McKay admires his “unique little personality”; Mathew Leckie says he can be a Socceroo great.
It’s a sudden ascension for Luongo, whose precocious passes, daring dashes and cool control on the ball is being compared to Australia’s most recent creative midfield maestros, Mark Bresciano and Josip Skoko.
But for Luongo, he’s just following his football instincts.
“Naturally I always try to make something happen,” Luongo says.
“I don’t just want to get the ball from the centre-backs and play the easy pass just to get myself into the game.
“I’d rather play more of a risky area and be more effective if things come off.”
His mantra marries perfectly with the plans of Postecoglou, who has uncovered the midfield magician he craves.
Luongo has scored once and had a foot in three other goals in the Asian Cup.
And his importance is evidenced against Oman: leading 3-0 just after halftime, Postecoglou rested two players – Cahill and Luongo.
Postecoglou spotted Luongo’s upper class when scouting him in England’s third tier before last year’s World Cup.
Luongo then was as anonymous as any Australian playing abroad, particularly given he was treading an unusual path.
Born in Sydney, Luongo didn’t feature in Australia’s traditional academy-based development programs and made only fleeting under-20 national appearances.
In 2011, the then 18-year-old remarkably went straight from Sydney club football with the Leichhardt Tigers to Tottenham Hotspur’s youth team.
Luongo, whose grandfather AA Siradjuddin was Sultan of Bima and Dompu on the island of Sumbawa, one of the 13,000 plus islands in the Indonesian archipelago, played just one League Cup tie for Spurs’ senior side.
He came on as a substitute and missed Tottenham’s eighth penalty in a shootout, resulting in a defeat.
In July 2012, Luongo joined Championship outfit Ipswich Town on a season-long loan. But it was terminated little more than three months later when a new manager, Mick McCarthy, came in saying he wanted a “different type of player”.
On March 28, 2013, he was sent on short-term loan to Swindon Town along with two other Spurs trainees – the next day he played the full 90 minutes for the club.
Swindon, in July that year, signed Luongo on a year-long loan. The next month they were so impressed they paid Spurs about $A400,000 and locked him into a three-year permanent contract.
“He can go as far as he wants,” Swindon manager Mark Cooper says.
“He can run, he can play, he can tackle, he can head, he can score, so he’s got everything.
“When I watch midfield players he can certainly compete with the ones in the Premier League.”
Cooper wasn’t the only coach taking notice.
Soon after Postecoglou was appointed the Socceroos’ boss in October 2013, he went on a European scouting mission.
Postecoglou went to Swindon and plucked Luongo from obscurity for the World Cup, where the midfielder underwent glorified work experience.
He didn’t play a game in Brazil but made lasting impressions on seasoned teammates like Milligan and McKay.
“Obviously we’re fortunate enough to see him a lot more than you guys at training – and he’s an incredible player,” Milligan says.
“He has got a lot of composure on the ball which is good at such a young age.
“In that (midfield) position … there is always a lot of bodies in there and you’re generally under pressure when you get on the ball.
“It’s very easy just to play backwards but he doesn’t. He gets on the ball, gets his little forward turns in, which is important.”
McKay praises Luongo’s “style and flow”.
“He brings his own unique little personality to the game, which is great,” McKay said.
“Those kind of things are what makes our team so special … it’s good signs for him and good signs for the Socceroos.”
Leckie says the feats of Luongo, whose great grandfather was the first Indonesian consul-general in Turkey before returning to Indonesia to be a High Court judge, aren’t surprising.
“We know what his quality is, we have seen it in training,” Leckie says.
“He’s quality on the ball is quite good, he has got great feet and he can also pick a pass.
“If he can polish it up … he can turn into a great player.
“Now, he has been a part of the team and got games under his belt and the confidence to understand that he’s a big player that can change games.”
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