There are not many reasons to doubt Newcastle United’s move for Lloyd Kelly.
It was announced last week that the 25-year-old would be joining Newcastle United on a free transfer on July 1st, with Lloyd Kelly signing a five-year deal to move to St James’ Park.
It is a good bit of business by the Magpies, who are getting a Premier League calibre defender without having to spend a transfer fee. That is ideal given the club’s current situation regarding PSR, while there is the added bonus that Kelly is a player who Eddie Howe knows well.
They worked together at Bournemouth, and are now being reunited in the North East. That is very exciting, and there is genuine belief that Kelly will become an even better player now that he is going to be working with Howe again.
Kelly is versatile, only 25-years-old, a leader, has potential to get better and is arriving on a free transfer. Almost everything about this deal is positive, except for his injury record.
Newcastle are not worried about Lloyd Kelly’s injury record
During the 2023/24 season, Newcastle United were crippled by injuries.
Now the Magpies are signing a player who has missed a lot of football over the past five years due to injury.
However, the Athletic report that Newcastle United are not concerned about Kelly’s fitness and believe they will be able to manage him better than Bournemouth did.
But the numbers speak for themselves. It is only during the two seasons in the Championship that Kelly showed durability during his Bournemouth career.
In every other season with the Cherries, he has endured spells on the sidelines.
Newcastle may not need to rely on Kelly as much
Kelly was a key player at the Vitality Stadium. If he was fit, he started. Once he established himself at Bournemouth, it was extremely rare that he would find himself on the bench.
However, it might be a different story for him at St James’ Park. While the hope will be that he impresses, he will not necessarily be the main man in defence. In fact, he will not be a guaranteed starter – especially when Sven Botman is fit.
Until Botman is fit, Kelly will probably play a fair bit. He will rotate with Dan Burn and Lewis Hall to cover centre-back and left-back, and how many minutes he plays might depend on how well he performs compared to others.
But the depth is there for Newcastle rotate, which should allow them to manage Kelly and ensure he avoids injury.
After the season the Magpies just had, the last thing we need is more players out of action. There is a risk that could happen to Kelly given his history with injuries, but Newcastle have confidence that he will be fit and available more than he was at Bournemouth.
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