Newcastle United's English head coach Eddie Howe (L) chats with Newcastle United's Dutch defender #04 Sven Botman (R) on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Fulham at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on December 16, 2023. Newcastle won the game 3-0. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Newcastle United's defensive options are beginning to look seriously thin on the ground but you won't hear many regrets from inside St James' Park over being, essentially, forced to lose a versatile option from that very position back in January.
Lloyd Kelly, who only spent a matter of months on Tyneside after arriving as a free transfer last summer, looks poised to make his loan move to Juventus permanent at the end of the season when the Serie A outfit are obligated to purchase his signature in a £20m permanent deal.
Juve must part with £12m - plus a potential £5.4m in add-ons - should they qualify for any European competition this season after paying a £3m loan fee to Newcastle earlier this year. At the same time, the Magpies could really do with his services back in the north east of England.
Jamaal Lascelles remains sidelined, Sven Botman must undergo an operation on his knee and Lewis Hall's season is over courtesy of a foot injury. Yet United know Kelly's exit was necessary given the club's previously precarious PSR position - which is now, undoubtedly, looking stronger with the help of similar departures in recent seasons.
Newcastle's financial results for the 2023/24 accounting period were released this week, showing the profit made from player sales totalled £69.8m - a whopping £67m more than the £2.8m of 2022/23 - mainly arising from the sales of Elliot Anderson, Yankuba Minteh and also Allan Saint-Maximin in the summer of 2022.
While all three players were admired at St James' Park, they were not key stars who were deemed unsellable. In the case of Anderson and Minteh, in particular, it is questionable as to how much game time they would have received this term. The same can be said for Kelly, who had struggled to burst into Howe's first-team plans in the months after his arrival.
An overall figure of £20m remains nothing short of a masterstroke by Newcastle's transfer chiefs - even if it has left Howe's backline depleted. It is short-term pain for prospective, long-term gain. It is also a prime example of 'business logic trumping football logic' as Howe explained earlier this season.
"We’re in the world – and we have been this window – of trying to manage PSR and trying to make decisions that benefit us in the long term, and this is one of those decisions," the Newcastle boss said in January.
Kelly is beginning to find his feet in Turin after a shaky start, and while some Newcastle supporters may be cursing the decision to let him go, there is no denying it was a departure that could not be turned down due to the finances involved.
Not everyone will be feeling that way at present with a huge cup final clash on the horizon but the positive effects of such a hefty sale will be felt further the down when incoming spending is officially unlocked for Howe and his transfer team.