Lloyd Kelly says he was shocked by what happened when he left Newcastle United

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Lloyd Kelly has opened up on his shock move away from Newcastle United to Juventus.

Kelly joined Newcastle United on a free transfer from Bournemouth in the summer of 2024.

At the time, the defender looked like an inspired signing. An experienced Premier League operator who had previously worked under Eddie Howe, it looked like a risk-free addition to the Newcastle United squad. 

Things, however, did not really work out. The former Bristol City youngster struggled for game time and only made 14 appearances before surprisingly joining Italian giants Juve in January 2025.

That was initially a loan deal, but later became a permanent transfer in May and it’s thought that Juventus paid a total of around £20million to sign Kelly from Newcastle.

To go from the Newcastle bench to one of the biggest clubs in the world felt strange. Now, he’s shared his thoughts about it all.  

• READ MORE: What Newcastle United actually thought about Lloyd Kelly before ‘disastrous’ Juventus move

Lloyd Kelly admits he was surprised about joining Juventus

The Old Lady are perhaps not the powerhouse they were in previous years, but few would doubt they remain one of the biggest clubs in world football. 

As such, getting a move to the Serie A titans has to be seen as a remarkable achievement for any player.

Speaking on Juve’s official YouTube channel, Kelly admitted that their interest took even him by surprise. 

“To be honest, no, I didn’t expect it because at the time, of course I wasn’t really playing too much at Newcastle,” he said.

“But I was a key player in the in the squad, so I felt like I was needed.

“My agent phoned me and he just said, ‘Would you move to Juventus?’ And I just I think it took me about 10 seconds to realise what he said. And then I just said, ‘Yes, let’s do it. Let’s do it.’

“If the door was slightly ajar, I would have said, ‘Let’s push for this.’ And luckily it happened.” 

Lloyd Kelly is starting to impress for Juventus

Kelly struggled at Juventus during the opening few months of his career at the club and had to deal with a lot of criticism from the Italian media. 

Things, however, do appear to be on the up somewhat. He’s started all six of their Serie A games thus far and even scored in their dramatic win over Inter Milan in September.

Kelly also scored against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, which is pretty impressive for a defender. 

Slowly but surely, he appears to be making a success of his move there.