Opinion
There is truly something spectacular brewing with the Kuol family. Alou – the eldest – impressed in his debut A-League season in 2020-21, claiming seven goals in 30 appearances in a cameo that assisted the Central Coast Mariners finishing third and entering their first finals campaign in six seasons.
At the end of his first senior football campaign, the young striker had done enough to garner the attention of five-time Bundesliga champion, VFB Stuttgart, a noted Germany talent factory responsible for producing Mario Gomez, Timo Werner, Joshua Kimmich, Bernd Leno, Sami Khedira and Serge Gnabry to name a few.
Maybe it is not the flashiest European club to land at. Maybe it doesn’t inspire in the same way that signing for a Manchester City, Chelsea, or Paris St Germain would. But it is a smart move for the young striker. It is a move that sees the kid from Khartoum join a side that historical emphasises a multi-faceted approach to developing players.
Brother Garang, however, he is a different story. Six minutes into his senior debut against APIA Leichardt in the cup, he scored. Similarly, five minutes into his A-League debut at 17 no less, the younger Kuol came on, made a darting, defence splitting run to stab a Lewis Miller volley under the feet of an onrushing Oli Sail.
Since that time, and despite only playing 145 minutes for club, the young winger has collected four games in eight games.
Throw into this a few dazzling moments and runs, firstly in the A-League All-Star game against Barcelona, where he danced through a defence that contained Ronald Araujo, Jordi Alba, and Dani Alves and was unfortunate not to score.
Then, on international debut against New Zealand earlier in the week – becoming the youngest player to do so since Harry Kewell nearly a quarter of a century earlier – he came on, blitzed down the right-touchline in a fearless nature that has become his trademark in his infant career, sent a dangerous ball in that ultimately led to the penalty and debut goal for teammate Jason Cummings.
It is by no means a large sample size. But what it lacks in length it makes up for in brilliance, and it was enough to attract newly established financial superpower, Newcastle United, into acquiring the 18-year-old’s signature.
Speaking at his signing, Garang said:
“It’s unreal. As a young boy in Australia, the Premier League is the main thing that everyone watches but nobody actually thinks they’ll reach those heights. To be one of those people, to be in the position I am, it’s amazing.”
“Now that I’ve signed for Newcastle, I want to train hard, play hard, hopefully go to the World Cup and come back here.”
Garang Kuol. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Hopefully he does just that. Heads to Qatar, has a breakout tournament akin to Daniel Arzani’s in 2018, skips across to Tyneside, spends time on loan in Portugal – a great county to develop your game as a young talent, given its pedigree is a premier global talent factor – and has a successful career.
God knows this country needs enigmatic talent – like the Kuol brothers – to reignite the passion for the game at a domestic and international level and ratify to clubs that investing in the academy and playing the kids is worth the capital output.
But to lock in a big European move is one thing. To capitalise on it is another. Both brothers possess their own individual skillset that places them in the right position to be successful. They find themselves at clubs that do place an emphasis on production. But there is always the caveat, the caveat of a serious injury, of failing to adapt, of a million other factors that play a part in the success or failure of a career move.
Hopefully it is smooth sailing for the Kuol’s. But, not too smooth. Hurdles build character, and character is what football in this country is crying out for.
If all goes well, these two young men could be the attacking pillars that can bear the weight of Australian football and inspire other talented players to follow in their sensibly moving footsteps.
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