Juventus are already willing to give up on Lloyd Kelly who had made the move from Newcastle United six months ago.
Last January, the Bianconeri found themselves short on defenders, especially with Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal suffering season-ending injuries, and Danilo being omitted from Thiago Motta’s plans.
Therefore, the Turin-based giants brought in Renato Veiga on loan, before adding Kelly to the fold in a deadline-day move that reeked of desperation.
Newcastle made the most out of Juve’s emergency at the backSensing Juve’s urgent need to add a centre-back to their ranks, Newcastle were able to dictate the terms of the agreement. The Magpies had only signed the 26-year-old on a free transfer in the previous summer, so they were able to register a swift windfall in the form of pure capital gains.
(Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)Juventus ended up consenting to a loan with an obligation to buy that would be simply triggered by avoiding relegation to Serie B. Hence, the purchase was inevitably triggered, with Juventus paying a transfer fee of €17.5 which could rise to €20 million.
To make matters even worse, the English defender hasn’t been convincing in his first few months in Turin. He committed some costly errors at the back, including one against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round.
Juventus name their price for KellyDue to the lack of options, Igor Tudor often relied on Kelly as a starter. However, the Croatian manager hasn’t been too impressed by the defender.
Hence, La Gazzetta dello Sport (via TuttoJuve) reveals that the Serie A giants would be happy to sell the former Bournemouth star this summer.
The pink newspaper reveals that the Bianconeri have set their asking price at €18-20 million. The defender’s most likely suitors reside in the Premier League, so it remains to be seen if a swift homecoming will be on the cards.
Michel Sakr
Michel is a football journalist based in Beirut who has been a die-hard Juventus supporter since 1996. He is a Law graduate and a member of the Beirut Bar Association. In addition to writing for Juve FC, he is also the Head Writer for The Laziali and a Featured Writer on other websites including Stretty News, and The Cult of Calcio.
