Abimanyu, a 170-centimetre tall Indonesian under-23 representative, and 190cm Krasniqi have come from Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta'zim on loan for this season.

However. the pair, who describe themselves as box-to-box midfielders, had not met before coming to the Jets.

Krasniqi, a 29-year-old former Albanian and Kosovo representative, played at Johor Darul Ta'zim last year but Abimanyu was a new signing when the loan deal came.

Now the duo are flatmates after arriving in Australia and out of quarantine late last month.

"He's a good guy, he's a nice guy, like my new older brother," Abimanyu smiled.

Abimanyu, 21, spent five years in the youth system of Spanish club Levante but has played his senior football so far in his homeland.

"My dream has always been to play outside of Indonesia and when the offer came, I didn't think about it twice," he said of coming to Newcastle.

"It was an easy decision for me and I think the A-League here is a better league than in Indonesia.

"It's a good league. They play a better style than our league and I like the way Newcastle Jets play and I hope that I can catch up with them in fitness as soon as possible.

"The last time I was in training was in December with the national team so it's quite hard for me to catch up with them.

"I'd been doing some training but it's different than here. Obviously in Indonesia, the COVID situation is worse than here, so I was just doing my fitness training at home.

"I need more time, a couple of weeks and I should be OK."

Krasniqi said his situation fitness-wise was "even worse".

"In the middle of November we finished the season and I went back to Europe, where we couldn't train because it was completely locked down, so I've just been training at home in the garage," Krasniqi said.

"The last two and a half months have been very bad for training facilities, but now I'm back on it and hopefully as soon as possible, I'm 100 per cent."

Krasniqi played in Germany, the Czech Republic and Turkey before moving to the Malaysian Super League in 2015. He took the chance at the Jets after having the club recommended to him by former A-League players in Malaysia, including Newcastle's Taylor Regan.

"They all told me it's a good squad, good guys, good coaching and a good city, so it happened and I'm very happy about it," he said.

"My last three clubs, they were near the beach as well, so I'm sort of like a beach boy. I like to be in these places. It's similar but again it's something different. Different people, different culture, different league football-wise and a different quality.

"I can tell this straight away [that the league is a higher quality], that's why it's good for me, it's a new challenge. I have to say I really love the city. The food, everything is perfect, especially the coffee. The coffee is unbelievable."

Both players are keen to get on the pitch for Newcastle and prove themselves, but they also have one eye on international goals in June.

Krasniqi hopes to debut for the Malaysian national side, while Abimanyu has qualifiers with the Indonesian under-23 squad.

"For me, the most important thing is the club," Krasniqi said.

"I'm hopefully going to get an opportunity and I have to show myself and give everything to be in the squad.

"I think after some good games, all the other things can come true."

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