Lloyd Kelly made his first Juventus appearance since leaving Newcastle United on Friday night.
Newcastle United opted against making signings in January and has to make do with a weakened squad after Lloyd Kelly left for Juventus.
While the defence was not completely depleted following Kelly’s Juventus move, he was still a player who could be relied upon when others needed a rest. Newcastle take on Birmingham in the FA Cup on Saturday – a game that Kelly would have been in contention to feature in.
Eddie Howe is missing several key players for the cup tie, including Sven Botman who is out with a knee injury. Kelly would have been the likely replacement for Botman, but now Howe may be forced to play a fatigued Dan Burn or a player from the academy.
Kelly wanted to leave Newcastle after growing tired with his lack of game time since signing in the summer. Howe admired Kelly and referred to him as an ‘integral’ member of Newcastle’s first-team squad.
After making his debut against Como, Kelly has taken to social media to react.
Lloyd Kelly on Juventus debut
Kelly came on at half time in Juventus’ win against Como in Serie A, playing 45 minutes plus stoppage time. He helped his new side come from a goal behind to win 2-1 and move up to fourth in the table. However, Italian media were not impressed by Kelly’s debut and hoped to see more out of him in the future.
After the game, Kelly took to social media to reflect on his performance.
He said: “First win. Important result for everyone, felt good to be out there in a Juventus shirt.”
The post received support from his Newcastle teammates Joelinton, Joe Willock and club captain Bruno Guimaraes.
While some Newcastle players were happy to see Kelly make his Juventus debut, Howe did not want to lose Kelly to Juventus as the squad is now weakened which could have a major impact on the Magpies season.
- READ MORE – Juventus share what makes Lloyd Kelly a ‘valuable piece’ to their puzzle after Newcastle United exit
How Italian media feel about Lloyd Kelly at Juventus
For some Juventus fans, the move was a surprise considering they sold Newcastle target Dean Huijsen for a similar fee that they could pay for Kelly.
As well as that, Juventus signed Gabri Veiga from Chelsea who was employed to play at centre-back for Thiago Motta’s side. Some may believe that Juventus will simply be throwing money away by signing Kelly and Italian media do not have much hope for him either.
Journalists in Italy believe Kelly will be a ‘bench’ player at Juventus who will not be able to get his fair share of game time at the Serie A giants.
Kelly made 10 Premier League appearances for Newcastle, including just four starts. He will be eager to do much more for Juventus and will even have the opportunity to play in the Champions League in the near future.
Juventus take on PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday. Kelly will be in contention to play.
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