So, Swindon Town have rejected a €2.5million bid from a Turkish club for Australian midfielder Massimo Luongo. The offer from the unnamed Super Lig outfit, which equates to £1.9million, would be a club record, however, the bid has been ‘quickly rebuffed’ by Lee Power. With reports that Luongo is also attracting interest from Sevilla, clubs in the Bundesliga and the English Championship, ‘Mass’ is certainly one of the club’s most sought after players for some years. Here’s five reasons to accept and reject an offer…

Here’s five potential reasons why Swindon Town should consider selling Luongo this transfer window:

1. He’s become an international star with Australian in the Asian Cup, which is the one competition which the Aussies are always going to perform well in. With the tournament next taking place in 2019, and the next World Cup over three years ahead, Luongo’s ability to shine on the international stage will be no greater than today, so its the right time to take the money.

2. His contract expires in June 2016, so when the next transfer window opens in July they’ll be only a year to run and there’s a big risk his resale value will have decreased. We’ve been in this boat before with players running down their contracts and forcing through moves in their final year at a significantly lower resale value, i.e. Gordon Greer etc.

3. The January transfer window is known for ‘panic buys’ with clubs overpaying. A €2.5million bid is potentially a quality transfer fee. It potentially reflects the top-of-the-market offer for Luongo from a desperate side looking for a short-term fix to their midfield.

4. Lee Power is demanding the sale comes with the condition of the player being loaned back to Town until the end of 2014/15. The deal to sell Louis Thompson proved how this can work to our advantage, so providing Power secures this clause then Town can only win, both financially and on the pitch.

5. He could break his leg next week on his return versus Barnsley so the club can’t turn down this ‘life-changing’ sum given the potential to use the money to strengthen in several areas of the squad.

He’s five potential reasons why Swindon Town shouldn’t sell Massimo Luongo this transfer window:

1. We actually need him. Massimo is our best player by far. He’s strong, quick, persistent, intelligent. And he’s getting better. Against Port Vale he was the lone pivot and was still creating in the final third. In that game he was exceptional, creating more and contributing all-round consistently better than even Yaser Kasim. Further up the field, we’ve all seen what he can do. Hopefully we’ll get a better price in the summer…

2. This is a winning team and top of League One, so the club will be mad to consider selling Luongo now given this is our best chance to return to the second tier of English football for 15-years.

3. Spurs will be entitled to a 40% sell-on clause on the profit of Massimo Luongo’s sale. £1.9million is a lot of money, however when you account for his purchase price of £400k,  Spurs would be due £600k, meaning Town actually paid them £1million (which is actually our record transfer fee). In all Town would receive £1.3million and net £900k. So even if Power was considering selling, he should demand more!

4. We already know that Town’s midfield will be losing one of the trio of L.Thompson, Kasim and Luongo in the summer, so the harm done by breaking up this team early will give us massive problems over the coming months. Town will certainly then need to rebuild the entire midfield, particularly when it’s also likely that Kasim could be leaving given his performances for both Town and Iraq.

5. Promotion to the Championship is itself rumoured to be worth several million in additional revenue, so Town have the ability to keep this team together by rewarding Luongo, Wes Foderingham etc with improved contracts if we secure promotion. If we sell them now we’ll miss that chance.

Undecided? Then give your reasons to sell or rebuff the transfer offer for Massimo Luongo in the comments box below…