'I want to make that very clear': Eddie Howe shuts down rumours surrounding Lloyd Kelly and Fenerbahce

Eddie Howe spoke to the press this morning ahead of Newcastle United's game with Bournemouth at St James' Park tomorrow. It's a 12:30pm kick-off live on TNT Sports.

There have been a couple of transfer stories gathering pace surrounding Newcastle this past week with the imminent exit of Miguel Almiron looking highly likely.

Another story that seemed to gather pace rapidly, was that of Fenerbahce's interest in Lloyd Kelly.

Lloyd Kelly arrived on Tyneside in the summer on a free transfer after leaving Bournemouth but has failed to make any kind of impact so far this season.

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Eddie Howe insists Lloyd Kelly is an important part of Newcastle's project

Reports initially suggested that Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce had made a £10 million bid for Kelly. That later fell to £6 million. However, the amount is neither here nor there, as the bid was rejected by Newcastle.

When asked for an update this morning by the media (via The Chronicle), Eddie Howe wanted to make it very clear that the stories were coming from the Turkish side and that Lloyd Kelly is not pushing for a move.

"Lloyd has not talked to me about leaving the football club. I think he's only just joined and I think there's an understanding from his perspective that he's got to earn the right to play and prove that he deserves to play ahead of other players.

"So there's been absolutely no issue. He's been great to work with and I knew he would be. He's waiting for his opportunities, so there's no issue with Lloyd at all.

"Whatever rumours you're hearing are likely from Fenerbahce and not from the player so I want to make that very clear and Lloyd's an important part of what we're doing."

There must be more to Lloyd Kelly than we're seeing

For a lot of fans, the fact that Newcastle turned down any amount for Kelly is baffling. After signing him on a free and on such high wages, surely even a £6 million sale for a player who can't get in the first team was a good bit of business, especially given our problems with PSR.

We understand wanting to keep some squad depth, but Kelly has given us no signs that he's even close to the levels of the players ahead of him in the pecking order and his reported £150k-a-week wages are just eating into our PSR headroom.

There's obviously a lot more to it than how we are viewing it. At least we'd hope so because on the surface level, it makes no sense to keep him around right now.