A change of manager has not brought about a change of fortunes for Newcastle United loanee Garang Kuol.
Newcastle sent Kuol to Hearts at the start of the year following his arrival in the United Kingdom, and a move north of the border felt like a sensible decision.
It gave the 18-year-old the chance to settle into UK life alongside some of his Australian teammates, whilst also playing at a decent standard for a Scottish Premiership side.
But while he has been able to enjoy the home comforts of some of his international teammates, he has not played a lot of football for Hearts.
Robbie Neilson rarely used Kuol, starting on just one occasion – and that saw him play in centre-midfield against Rangers. Unsurprisingly, it did not go well for the diminutive attacker, who was panned by the media for his performance.
Seven games without playing for Garang Kuol
Neilson has since been relieved of his duties at Tynecastle, and replaced by Steven Naismith. The former Everton forward took interim charge of the Jam Tarts on April 10th.
The decision to sack Neilson came after a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren, which was the third consecutive game that Kuol did not feature in.
Hearts have played four times since then, and Kuol has continued to find himself out of the side.
The young Aussie has now gone seven consecutive games without playing a single minute of football. On six occasions he was an unused substitute, while he was not even on the bench for the recent defeat to Celtic.
Kuol is a ‘very exciting‘ talent, but his move to Hearts has proven to be a bit of a disaster. While it might have helped him settle into life away from Australia, he has barely gained any senior experience.
It has reportedly already been decided that he will go out on loan again next season. Hopefully it is to a club where he actually gets to play competitive football.