Garang Kuol: Hearts among clubs keen on loan deal for Newcastle & Australia forward
- Published
Kuol came off the bench in Australia's World Cup matches against eventual finalists France and Argentina
Manager Robbie Neilson hopes Hearts have done enough to land a loan deal for "huge prospect" Garang Kuol.
The Australia forward, 18, visited the Edinburgh club for talks, having recently moved from Central Coast Mariners to Newcastle United.
The English Premier League club want to arrange a loan for the teenager, who played at the World Cup.
"It's still at the very early stages," said Neilson. "It will depend on what other clubs are in for him."
Kuol's international team-mates Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson are at Tynecastle, with Neilson adding: "The opportunity came to speak to him so we brought him up and we'll see where it goes.
"He's a huge prospect. He's one we've known about for quite a long time because he comes from the same team as Kye Rowles was at.
"We'd love to get him here but we'll just have to wait and see because he's an 18-year-old who has been playing at the World Cup so I'm sure there will be a lot of suitors."
Neilson confirmed he is also looking to recruit a new centre-back after Craig Halkett was ruled out for the rest of the season with anterior cruciate ligament damage.
"Yes, it's an area we're looking to strengthen in," he said. "We've got a couple of targets we're hopeful of getting."
Hearts aim to keep Snodgrass 'a bit longer'
There are plans to discuss a contract extension for Robert Snodgrass, with the 35-year-old impressing since joining as a free agent in September.
"We've touched briefly on that," explained Neilson.
"We'll probably get the January window out the way and then we'll start moving things with that because he's done exceptionally well and we'd like to keep him a bit longer."
Neilson added that he is "desperate" for striker Stephen Humphrys to see out his season-long loan.
"Wigan have an option to take him back this month so we're waiting to see about that," he said. "It's not in our hands. We're desperate to keep him and I know Stephen's desperate to stay here but ultimately the parent club have the power."
And the manager is not worried about losing in-form striker Lawrence Shankland, who has hit 18 goals since his summer switch from Beerschot in Belgium.
"He's top scorer in the league and our club captain so if somebody wants to buy him it's going to cost a lot of money," he said. "There's nothing there at the moment."
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