Garang Kuol has passed medical and signed for Newcastle United – Report | OneFootball

It was two and a half weeks ago when Bein Sports (Australia) first broke the story that Newcastle United were set to sign 17 year old Garang Kuol.

Since then, speculation has grown with ongoing reports from Australia saying that an outline agreement had been reached between Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle United.

Then this week Sky Sports have given further updates saying everything in place and just the final touches needed before the deal was signed.

Now Vince Rugari of The Age has reported that Garang Kuol has now passed his medical and signed for Newcastle United.

The Australian journalist stating that Garang Kuol flew to the UK after completing his time with the national (Australia) squad and their two friendlies against local rivals New Zealand.

Rugari saying that his sources have told him that after completing his medical, Kuol signed his Newcastle United contract last night (Thursday) and that an official announcement is expected from NUFC shortly.

The Australian journalist summing up the move…’Garang Kuol has put pen to paper on a lucrative multi-year deal with Newcastle United to complete his remarkable rise from the A-League to the richest club in the world’s biggest league in just six stunning months.’

He says the deal will make Garang Kuol, at the age of only 18, already one of the highest paid Australian footballers in the world.

The initial transfer fee is understood to be only £300,000) from Newcastle United but with far more money to come via future add-ons when hitting various targets and then also sell-on clauses if the striker is sold in the future by NUFC.

It appears that the deal would have been completed even earlier, if not for the fact of his first call up to the senior Australia squad.

A quite amazing few weeks as Garang Kuol got that first international call-up, then turned 18, made his first appearance for Australia in the 2-0 win over New Zealand on Sunday, now signing for Newcastle United.

As previously reported, Garang Kuol will not qualify for an automatic UK work permit and when the Newcastle move is officially registered with the opening of the January transfer window, is expected to be loaned out to a European club in January. The man from The Age saying his sources have told him that a club in Portugal is the most likely loan destination.

Rugari says that a lot of clubs were competing for the exciting prospect and that amongst others, Newcastle United have fought off Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart to land Garang Kuol.

Celtic were also after Kuol but had to accept they couldn’t compete for the teenage striker, Celtic’s boss Ange Postecoglou was formerly the manager of the Australia national side and he says about Garang Kuol:

“We love a next big thing, don’t we?

“Hopefully, he can handle that.

“He’s a really exciting talent, an exciting young kid in terms of embracing the platform he’s got at the moment.

“Sometimes in football careers, it’s all about timing.

“It seems like he has come to the fore at the right time.

“If he can keep progressing the way he is and get himself to a World Cup and make an impact there, who knows where he can go?”

Garang Kuol is now expected to return to Australia and get some more first team football with Central Coast Mariners AND actually his first ever start for them! Having previously only made brief sub appearances and playing 189 minutes, scoring four goals.

The league kicks off next weekend (Saturday 7 October / Sunday 8 October) in Australia and Kuol and Central Coast Mariners will face Newcastle Jets in the opening match of the season.

However, only five weeks later this stunning acceleration in the teenage striker’s career is very likely to see another leap forward, when Garang Kuol could be off to the World Cup finals as part of a 26 man Australia squad.