Young Australian forward Garang Kuol was snapped up by Newcastle United after he started to capture the attention of the wider footballing world.
The youngster looked like he was going to be the next big thing, even representing his country at the last World Cup, something that allowed him to obtain a work permit to play in the UK when he signed for Newcastle - it was initially looking like he'd have to go out on loan in Europe to accrue the required amount of points to obtain a UK work visa.
When he arrived, despite having his work permit approved, it was decided to send the young Aussie out on loan where he'd be able to garner more playing time. A loan move to Scottish Premiership side Hearts was soon drawn up and the Egyptian/Australian swapped the searing heat of Australia for the arctic conditions of Edinburgh,
Within weeks of his move, the manager who brought him into the club was gone after giving Kuol just one start in the SPL - a figure that would not change for the duration of his loan. He was used sparingly, to put it lightly, as a substitute too with Newcastle ultimately furious at the lack of game time he received.
This season he was sent out on loan again, this time to FC Volendam of the Dutch Eredivisie. The struggling side currently sits one spot off the bottom, on the same points as Vitesse below them.
Kuol got off to a good start at Volendam and even scored an absolute worldie, but as the season has gone on he's found himself used less and less, averaging just 47 minutes per game throughout the season.
Newcastle fans, and probably the club too, aren't exactly happy. We loan out one of our brightest prospects and again he gets overlooked.
Perhaps sending him out to a side that was clearly going to struggle wasn't the best move on our end, but on the flip side, with his raw talent and bags of potential, he had the opportunity to raise the standard.
However, as things stand he's just wasting away in another poor loan move, and at this point you have to start wondering ... is it him? Is he as good as we all thought? Was he just made to look so impressive because he was playing in Australia where football isn't really a thing? Has the pressure of moving to a big Premier League club got to him and he's struggling to adapt?
We really hope it's just poor choice of clubs in both instances because we really want this move to work out for Garang Kuol and Newcastle, but right now it's not looking good.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |