Things haven’t quite gone to plan for Aussie talent Garang Kuol since his arrival on Tyneside a few years ago.

From World Cup outings against Lionel Messi to featuring at Gateshead for our Under-21s, it feels like a crucial year for the 20-year-old forward who arrived on Tyneside with much promise.

The loans co-ordinated by Shola Ameobi to Hearts and Volendam have only seen Kuol’s stock drop, and he hasn’t impressed when given first-team opportunities in pre-season either.

Kuol update from Under-21 chief

Kuol’s Newcastle career continued to stutter when he suffered a muscle tear in September last year, but his recent performances with our U21 squad have proved their is still plenty of talent in the young Aussie with two goals and an assist in his previous two appearances against Gateshead and Southampton.

Under-21s boss Diarmuid O’Carroll has issued an update on the forward’s future, indicating that a January loan may not be pursued.

Unless an “attractive option” comes up, the Academy chief is happy for the 20-year-old to remain within his squad, with the focus firmly on finding the right environment for the player after a few poor loans in previous seasons.

“Potentially [he will stay]. no decisions are made,” said O’Carroll. “Obviously, everything can change in the last week in the window. But I think from our point of view, we’re perfectly comfortable with him being in the building.

“If someone was to come and there’s an attractive option, again we would sit down as a team in terms of Jack [Ross] and everybody and we weigh it up.

“We don’t want to send someone for a token gesture because it looks good to send them on loan. We want from now on every loan to be tailored to the needs of the player.”

It does beg the question of who the previous loans were supposed to be benefitting if not the player, but with Kuol one of the first to arrive into our practically non-existent academy when PIF took over it is at the very least a learning curve on the best way to develop our younger talent.

Next loan move has to be the right one

Kuol arrived from Central Coast Mariners at 17-years-old with plenty of promise, making the switch from the A-League after two goals in nine professional league appearances – and coming off the bench to play against Messi in the World Cup just a month prior to joining Newcastle when the January window opened in 2023.

On January 12, he was loaned to Hearts where his development would start to decline with just eight appearances in the SPL, only one of those being a start. His time with Volendam in the Eredivisie saw him pick up more minutes, this time eight starts, scoring one goal (as he did for Hearts).

The next decision is crucial for Kuol’s career. If he is loaned it must be the right move for the player – and that hasn’t often been the case recently in my view.

Alex Murphy was loaned to Bolton just one day before manager Ian Evatt was sacked, Charlie McArthur meanwhile has been sent to a Carlisle United side riddled with unrest, although the Scot did impress on his full debut over the weekend.