Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly has endured difficult times at the club since joining last year.
The 26-year-old defender had high expectations after joining the club on a free transfer from Bournemouth in 2024.
However, his time at Newcastle led to the loan move to Juventus in early 2025 due to limited opportunities for first teams.
Kelly’s performance at Juventus was met with severe criticism from the Italian media.
Lloyd Kelly left Newcastle earlier this year
Journalist Mimo Kugini described him as “frankly embarrassing,” highlighting the particularly poor show against Parma.
Despite this criticism, Juventus is reportedly set up to make Kelly’s move permanent, with MapGies expected to receive around £20 million from the deal.
“I think he is the most disastrous signature in Juventus history, given what they paid for him.” Kugini said as Football Italy reported.
“He’s frankly embarrassing. We’ve seen humans do things they’ve never seen on the football field. Kelly can’t be trusted. The goals they allowed to Parma at this level were embarrassing.”
Newcastle United have decided to cash it out to Kelly
The defender, who joined the club as a free agent last summer, was expected to be a long-term part of Eddie Howe’s side at St. James Park.
As Newcastle hasn’t given him enough playing time with the club earlier this season, they have decided to offload him and send him to Juventus in a loan move.
Defenders have no future for magpies, and permanent sales away from the club are inevitable.
Kelly’s stint at Newcastle didn’t play as expected, but the club is standing to make financial profits from his move to Juventus.
Magpies could lose one defender in the Italian league, but another defender could join them from Serie A.
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