UPDATE: Newcastle United and Garang Kuol reach agreement in principle

After beIN SPORTS reported earlier this month the interest of Newcastle United in Australia's then-soon-to-be-international Garang Kuol, SkySports just confirmed the agreement between both parties.

This, Sky Sports says, is part of “Newcastle United making it a priority to scout the global transfer market to try and sign some of the best young players in the world,“ on top of first-team ready players from other top-tier clubs around Europe.

Newcastle seems to have beaten the likes of Borussia Dortmund to the signing of the hottest Aussie prospect. Kuol has scored four goals in just 189 minutes of A-League action playing off the bench and as a substitute for his team over Australia.

Garang Kuol, who turned 18 a few days ago, recently got called up by Australia’s head coach Graham Arnold for the international break in which the youngster finally debuted with the Socceroos' senior squad facing New Zealand in back-to-back games.

In his debut, Kuol played twenty minutes off the pine and he did enough to force a penalty that helped Australia solidify their lead over NZE after the kick was converted into the final 2-0 score.

The deal will see Kuol remain playing football in Australia until January. It is expected for the youngster to move to Europe at the start of the next transfer window although he would be re-routed to another club in the continent as part of a loan deal until the end of the 2022/23 campaign. Kuol is expected to get a salary of “£25,000 ($43,000) a week“ according to the beIN SPORTS report.

This rather unique transfer-and-loan deal has to do with Kuol’s current international status when it comes to his UK work permit, which he doesn’t have qualifications for yet. With the World Cup taking place in November later this year, there is a chance Kuol gets called up for the tournament and thus clears all potential visa problems that he—and Newcastle by extension—would need to deal with otherwise.

Kuol’s current team in the Australian A-League “Central Coast Mariners will receive a fairly modest fee—the pre-existing buyout clause in his contract.” The report by beIN, though, adds that “the club will also receive some impressive add-ons and share of future transfer fees if Kuol’s career hits certain metrics in the years ahead.”

Garang Kuol became the youngest player in an Aussie senior-team camp following his inclusion in the Socceroos’ 31-man squad for their last games over the past few days. So much so, that he also became the youngest player to be called up to the senior national team since Harry Kewell back in April 1996.

Kuol was also part of the A-League All-Star team that played against Barcelona last May—in a 3-2 defeat to the Spanish side—at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. Speaking after that game, Barcelona’s manager Xavi hailed the Aussie youngster saying that “[Kuol] did very well, he created many chances, almost scored.”

Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Garang Kuol has a brother, Alou, already playing in Europe after the older of the Kuol brothers secured a move to the German side last summer. In his first season, Alou followed a similar path to that outlined for Garang as he got loaned to fellow-German side SV Sandhausen for a year and until the end of last season. Alou is now back in Stuttgart but he’s yet to make his first-team debut.