His first loan,a six-month spell at Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian,was thought of as a soft landing pad in Europe:a club where there were three other Aussiesin a country where there was no language barrier to contend with,and only a 90-minute train ride from Edinburgh to his parent club. Kuol’s on-field returns were mixed,which was a disappointment but no great surprise. Hearts’ losing form and their at times peculiar utilisation of him did not help his cause,and some thought it was never the right destination for him.
Kuol began brightly when he was sent to Volendam this season. He started in seven consecutive matches before being dropped to the bench,but the club had been following him for some time,knew he was an incomplete player,and figured that they knew how to exploit his strengths on the field while chipping away at his weaknesses at training.
That was until,just days after Kuol’s last start in a 3-0 loss to Socceroos captain Maty Ryan’s AZ Alkmaar,Volendam’s entire football department quit en masse – around a dozen staffers in total,including Jasper van Leeuwen,the technical director who brought the teenager to the club,and Matthias Kohler,the manager who believed in him. Their resignations were an act of defiance after the club’s entire board – led by the former Ajax,Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven star Wim Jonk –was dismissed by a separate “supervisory board” in an escalation of a dispute over governance and finances. That plunged Volendam into total chaos.
Kohler’s replacement,Regillio Simons,has implemented a defensive low block system without wide attackers,which leaves Kuol,who is a lightly built winger with deficiencies in his defensive game,on the outside looking in for the rest of the season. He has played only 32 minutes so far in 2024.
Time is still on Kuol’s side. He does not turn 20 until September,and is less than two years into his four-year Newcastle contract,but his hopes of actually pulling on their famous black-and-white stripes hinge on Ashworth’s replacement (whoever it happens to be) also valuing his talent,finding him a more stable club to be loaned out to next season,and,once there,playing as many minutes as possible.
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In turn,Kuol’s Socceroos career has also stalled. He has not been called up since March 2023,when he scored his first international goal in a friendly against Ecuador,and was left out of coach Graham Arnold’s squad for the recent Asian Cup – partly because he had not done enough to merit selection,and partly in the hope that Volendam would agree to release him in April to play under Tony Vidmar at the under-23 Asian Cup,where Australia can seal Paris Olympics qualification by finishing in the top three.
Having only paid around $500,000 for him,Newcastle can afford for Kuol to be a bust. Australia cannot.
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