Hearts boss Robbie Neilson has confirmed that Australian forward Garang Kuol has been in Edinburgh to visit Hearts' training ground.

The 18-year-old recently joined Newcastle United after signing a pre-agreement with the Premier League side in September.

He arrived in England from A-League club Central Coast Mariners where he scored six goals in 18 games.

Kuol was also part of the Socceroos squad that got to the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar.

The forward came off the bench twice, including in the knockout stage defeat to eventual winners Argentina.

And Neilson explained the situation surrounding the player.

"We’ve had him up," he said. "He’s a player that we’re definitely interested in and we’ve had him in for a look around the place.

"There are a number of clubs that are interested in him because he’s a great prospect.

"With a number of potential suitors, we’ll wait and see where it goes.”

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Meanwhile, David Martindale has revealed Livingston are closing in on the signing of Dominican Republic international defender Luiyi De Lucas.

The 28-year-old has been on trial with the Lions since November following just over two years as a regular with Finnish top-flight side Haka.

De Lucas has impressed Martindale enough to earn a deal and the cinch Premiership club expect to be able to give him his debut later this month once his international clearance is finalised.

“De Lucas is in the building today,” said the Livi boss. “He’s got his English language test tomorrow and he’s got his Home Office interview next week so I’d be pretty confident that by mid-January we should have him available for first-team selection.”

Martindale, who has already signed former Hibernian winger Steven Bradley, expects De Lucas to be his final January recruit.

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