Newcastle United winger mystery after injury blow & Eddie Howe admission

The 19-year-old arrived for nominal fee from Central Coast Mariners last January having emerged as one of Australia’s brightest talents. In the months leading up to Tyneside switch, Kuol caught the eye in a A-League All Stars match against Barcelona and became the youngest player since Brazil legend Pele to appear in a World Cup knockout game.

However, it’s fair to say Kuol has struggled. In two loan spells at Hearts and FC Volendam has fetched a total of 25 appearances. That said, the latter should be caveated with the exit of club chairman Jan Smit and the resignation of coach Wim Jonk - which badly disrupted Kuol and Volendam’s season, ending in relegation from the Eredivisie.

Still, the campaign ended on a high for Kuol. He was included in Newcastle’s squad for their post-season trip to Australia where he was subject to a fanfare, appearing as a substitute and converting his spot-kick in a penalty shootout win over Tottenham Hotspur. He then played a full game against the A-League All Stars... less said about that scoreline the better.

Speaking during the tour, United boss Eddie Howe hinted at another loan spell for Kuol. He said: "It's always very difficult to say for certain what's going to happen with a player at this stage because there's a long way to go before the season starts.

"But possibly another loan spell for him will be important. He's had a couple of loan spells now but I think he needs the next one to be a successful one. We need him to play more game time. Hopefully, that'll happen."

However, the English transfer window closed on Friday and Kuol remains at Newcastle. Furthermore, he hasn’t been mentioned since the trip to Japan when Howe’s confirmed he had picked up a knee injury.

“With Garang, we're waiting to see what’s happened with him,” said Howe. “He's got a little bit of swelling in his knee so we're not sure if he'll be okay.”

It is unclear if Kuol is still injured or whether that has impacted an expected loan move. A temporary departure is still possible with a number of overseas transfer windows still open, or it could be that he remains with the under-21s for the first-half of the campaign.

Either way, it’s a mystery that - as it stands - remains unsolved.