Massimo Luongo and Grant Hall join Swindon Town on loan

Off the back of a short spell at the club towards the end of last season, 20 year old defensive midfielder Massimo Luongo will return to Swindon Town on a season-long loan for the year to come, the club has announced. He will be joined in the side by 21 year-old centre-back Grant Hall, who has periodically served as captain of Spurs' U21 side in recent years. The moves represent the continuation of a slightly bizarre unofficial affiliation Spurs has established with the South Western club, which also brought in Spurs youngsters Nathan Byrne and Dean Parrett on temporary deals last season.

For me, this move makes sense for Hall, who hasn't made senior appearances at any team for some time now and doesn't quite seem to have shown the promise needed to crack Tottenham's first team; keeping him busy and boosting his value in a potential deal with play time at any club which wants him seems like the smartest option at this particular juncture.

In Luongo's case, however, it's more frustrating. The Australian started last season on loan at Championship side Ipswich Town and was solid enough in sparse appearances to give the impression of continuous development before a management change dropped him out of the first team and saw him switched to Swindon. That he will be now spending another year in League One, instead of plying his trade at a higher level, perhaps indicates that Spurs' backroom staff don't quite rate him as highly as we'd been led to think. Hopefully a strong year with Swindon will help him get back on track with what, missed Carling Cup penalty aside, had looked like a promising career in the early stages.