World Cup winger agrees with manager over Newcastle United summer move
Australia national team boss Tony Popovic hopes Garang Kuol can leave Newcastle United this summer for senior football.
Kuol was widely recognised as Australia’s most exciting young prospect after he featured at the Qatar World Cup less than a couple of months before his move to Newcastle from Central Coast Mariners.
However, it has been a challenging two years on European soil. The 20-year-old had unsuccessful loan spells at Scottish Premiership side Hearts and FC Volendam in the Netherlands before a thigh issue last summer put the blocks on a third loan move.
Newcastle had initially planned to send Kuol out on loan in January but later decided it was best he stayed as he began to shine in the under-21s set up. And his form continued to the end of the season, scoring eight times in 13 appearances.
Garang Kuol told he needs to leave Newcastle United
Popovic has been watching Kuol’s progress with a keen eye and while he is pleased with the player’s performances, he has doubts over the standard of Premier League 2.
"We're monitoring him. We've seen some of his games that have been visible recently in the under-21s. He just needs consistent football," Popovic told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"The level can sometimes be deceiving, of course. But for any striker, when they're scoring, they're confident. Regardless of the level, he's scoring goals and he seems to be a lot more confident in the field.
"When you see him in and around the box, you can see there's a clear focus and confidence about him when he's dribbling a player, which maybe we haven't seen for a while."
Australia played World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month but Popovic is unlikely to call up Kuol, hinting he needs to play regularly at senior before being considered for the national team again.
Popovic added: "That also comes with match fitness, that he's playing more regularly, the body and the mind can handle 90 minutes of football.
"It's an area of the park we're always looking at. We're always looking for someone to come through in that area that's scoring goals regularly, that's playing at a high level regularly.
"Hopefully this will help him get a move somewhere where he will then have the challenge of getting into a team where there's points on the line and there's constant pressure."
Garang Kuol admits uncertainty ahead of the summer
Popovic’s comments echo what Kuol said about his future last month.
Kuol featured for Newcastle during their post-season trip to Melbourne last year, where he was subject to a fanfare in matches against Tottenham Hotspur and A-League All Stars. The winger has trained with Eddie Howe’s first-team at points this campaign but has not yet been named in the matchday squad.
Speaking to ESPN, Kuol said: "The most important thing for me is to be able to play [senior] football... it won't be that easy to jump from the under-21s at Newcastle to a first-team squad which could be in the Champions League.
"For the summer, I'm not really sure what's going to happen in terms of my next move ... but I'd say [senior] football is the ultimate goal."