Juventus seem to be really going out of their way to avoid signing Newcastle United's Lloyd Kelly on a permanent basis

In January Newcastle United sent Lloyd Kelly packing to Serie A side Juventus just a few months after joining the Magpies on a free transfer in the summer.

Eddie Howe had worked with Lloyd Kelly before having signed him for Bournemouth, but his arrival at Newcastle didn't go the way either party had expected.

Kelly couldn't force his way into Eddie Howe's first team and when Juventus came knocking, it was a pretty easy decision for the club to let him go.

Moving to Turin on loan with an obligation to buy, the Magpies look set to bank £20 million in total for the move, not a bad bit of business.

Juventus are in danger of dropping out of the top six places in Serie A

Things haven't really got much better for Kelly after joining the Italian giants and with Juventus' obligation to buy set to be triggered should they qualify for any UEFA competition, it was looking like Juventus were going to be stuck with the left-back.

That was until last night after Juventus lost 1-0 to relegation candidates, Parma while the teams around them picked up points.

Juventus must finish in the top six of Serie A to qualify for Europe, and they currently occupy fifth place with five games to go, but there's only a three point gap between them and Fiorentina in eighth place, so it's wide open and all to play for.

They surely aren't ... are they? Nah, they couldn't be ... could they?

We're sure that Juventus aren't really throwing away their season to avoid signing Lloyd Kelly on a permanent basis ... are they?

I mean, Juventus are notoriously skint and not having to fork out the remaining £17 million left on the deal after the initial loan payment would certainly help them out.

And let's be honest, it's not like Italian football is corrupt.

Oh wait...