Steven Naismith admits he sympathises with Garang Kuol over his lack of game time but is adamant that the loan spell at Hearts has not been a waste of time for the forward.
The Australia international has only managed one start in a total of eight appearances since joining from Newcastle United in January.
Kuol, who moved to the Magpies from Central Coast Mariners at the turn of the year, has not kicked a ball since the March 11 Scottish Cup defeat at home to Celtic.
Despite this, interim manager Naismith believes the 18-year-old will have learned a lot from his time in Scotland by the time he returns to his parent club this summer.
Naismith said: “I didn’t know too much in terms of Garang’s best attributes when he signed because I was with the B team. Like I’ve done with so many other players, I sat down and had a chat with him.
“I told him: ‘First of all, I understand you have moved halfway round the world.
“At 18, you’ve moved to one club and went on loan to another club. You have all this pressure on you to deliver.
“That’s a lot to deal with, so let’s strip it back. You firstly need to get to the point where you are just enjoying it and you are learning.
“Since I’ve been in this role, he has shown a willingness to learn and I’ve seen improvement – more with off-the-ball stuff.
“He is a young kid and he lacks that switch when you lose the ball to think: ‘Right, what do I do?’
"He hasn’t had that coached as yet. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve seen a big difference and his reactions are much better now.
“He wants to be involved and score goals like every player does. We do sympathise with him. I’ve enjoyed working with him and I think he will be a good player in years to come. He just needs to keep learning.
“This is the value of his loan, that he is learning this. I told him he could be back at Newcastle in a reserve team, nowhere near the first team, feeling frustrated. Here, he is part of a first-team environment. You understand there is a demand there and you need to perform.
“He is learning and I think he is in a better place with how he feels. He still has the frustration of not playing, but he has attributes some of the other forwards don’t have which we might need.”
Even as Hearts cantered to a 6-1 thrashing of Ross County on Saturday Naismith opted to overlook Garang but the Hearts caretaker boss made a point of getting in touch with the teenager to explain his decision;
He added: “I texted Garang after the game on Saturday when I went home because he was on my mind. I said: ‘I know you will be really disappointed not to get on the pitch. I know you might have been sitting thinking you would definitely get on at 6-0. It was more circumstances of players coming off and who I felt I could put on rather than anything you’ve done’.”
“From the conversations I’ve had with him, I’ve probably told him what he is thinking. Hopefully you gain respect from him because it’s: ‘Oh, he actually does know how I’m feeling.’
“I get that. He did say he just wants to learn and, when we were texting back and forward, he said he enjoyed training.”
