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Lloyd Kelly’s loan move to Juventus has been followed by a defensive injury crisis at Newcastle United.
Kelly, who is capable of playing as a left-sided centre-back or left-back, joined Juventus on loan from Newcastle during the winter transfer window with an obligation to make the deal permanent for around £20million this summer. Since his departure, left-sided centre-back Sven Botman and left-back Lewis Hall have both been hit with major injury blows.
Hall and Botman will both undergo surgery that will rule them out for the foreseeable future and leaves Newcastle’s defensive options limited. Dan Burn is the only available left-sided centre-back in Newcastle’s squad as things stand while at left-back head coach Eddie Howe will most likely resort to playing Tino Livrmaneto out of position in Hall’s absence.
Juventus paid an initial £2.5million loan fee to Newcastle with an obligation to make the deal permanent in the summer for £12million plus a further £5.4million should the Italian side achieve European qualification as expected.
Will Newcastle United recall Lloyd Kelly?
Newcastle have a spot spare in their Premier League squad so could still technically add players to it, though Kelly almost certainly won’t be one of them. The club will not be recalling Kelly to help cope with the absences of Botman and Hall.
Although there is no recall clause that Newcastle can trigger in Kelly’s loan deal, in theory, it could be cut short by a mutual agreement between the clubs. But Newcastle would not jeopardise a potentially lucrative summer transfer just to have an extra body in defence.
Kelly joined Newcastle on a free transfer last summer but was limited to just seven starts in all competitions. Since joining Juventus last month, Kelly has already made six appearances in all competitions, starting five.
The 26-year-old has kept a clean sheet in each of his last two Serie A appearances for Juve, who sit fourth in the table and look on course to qualify for Europe next season.
What Eddie Howe said about Lloyd Kelly transfer
Eddie Howe previously signed Kelly for Bournemouth before signing him again at Newcastle. But after a limited impact on the first team during his half-season on Tyneside, a decision was made to offload Kelly during the winter transfer window.
Following confirmation of his exit last month, Howe said: “I don't think it was necessarily my decision to let him leave.
“We were very reluctant from our side. Lloyd is a player who has just recently signed and we believed in him and his qualities. It was frustrating for him that he hadn't played more, in part down to the other players around him.
“But we are in the world and we have been in this window of trying to manage PSR and trying to make decisions that will benefit us in the long term. This is one of those decisions.
“Lloyd leaves with our best wishes. I'm sure he'll do well in Italy and it's an exciting challenge for him.”
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