Former Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly started as Juventus were dumped out of the Club World Cup by Real Madrid.
At the beginning of the 2024/25 campaign, nobody could have predicted the games that Lloyd Kelly would play over the last six months.
The 26-year-old has gone from being a fringe player at Newcastle United to facing some of the best teams in the world at the Club World Cup in America.
Kelly’s time at Juventus has been anything but easy. The defender was slated on debut for Juventus, despite helping the Old Lady come back from behind to win in the Serie A. Elsewhere, Kelly made his Champions League debut with Juventus, although that did not go well either.
After helping Juventus to qualify for Europe, Kelly was named in Igor Tudor’s squad for the Club World Cup. The Englishman started every game in the tournament for Juventus, but their run has now come to an end at the hands of Spanish giants Real Madrid.
With the former Newcastle man out of the competition, Italian media have shared their thoughts on his performance.
Lloyd Kelly sits on the ground during a Club World Cup game between Juventus and Real Madrid.
Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
Lloyd Kelly struggles again as Juventus lose to Real Madrid in the Club World Cup
Unfortunately, there will be no fairytale ending to Kelly’s season, but he can take pride in the fact that his £20m move to Juventus is now complete and he has the opportunity to impress after a full pre-season in Italy.
Kelly played 59 minutes in the game, but appeared to come off injured just a few minutes after Real Madrid had scored the only goal of the game.
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Italian media made their feelings clear on Kelly’s performance; they believed he struggled once again.
Cult of Calcio rated Kelly 5/10, saying: “Valverde’s cuts inside caused the ex-Bournemouth center-back’s headache as he couldn’t deal with the Uruguayan’s constant movements around and inside the box.”
Elsewhere, Football Italia also rated Kelly 5/10, they said: “A poor clearance paved the way for Real Madrid’s opener, but it wasn’t just his fault. Still lacking confidence, left the pitch injured.”
On a more local front, the Independent rated Kelly 6/10, saying: “As with the rest of the back three, was solid in the first half but wilted a little in the early period of the second. Came off injured.”
Juventus signed Lloyd Kelly after selling £50m Newcastle United target
After his performance in the previous Club World Cup game, Kelly was criticised for conceding five goals against Manchester City, who were eliminated by Al-Hilal on Monday evening.
The entire transfer saga is a strange one. Kelly took a wage cut to join Juventus and received the game time he was hoping for. However, many onlookers believe that the Old Lady made a major error in the last two transfer windows.
Juventus had Dean Huijsen on their books in 2024, but decided to sell him to Bournemouth last summer for just £13m. The young defender was brilliant in his only season in the Premier League, helping the Cherries climb up the Premier League table and come close to qualifying for Europe.
Newcastle were seriously interested in Huijsen, and it was believed that the Spaniard was very impressed by the Magpies’ proposals. However, he just could not say no when Real Madrid came calling. The La Liga side got a £50m deal done and he has since joined the club in America for the Club World Cup.
It is clear that Juventus made a major mistake letting Huijsen go last summer, and they still appear to be paying the price for it.