Lloyd Kelly saga takes new twist after Juventus win as club makes statement on Newcastle United loanee

Juventus put their defeat to relegation candidates Parma behind them at the weekend with a 2-0 win over Monza on Sunday.

The win took Juventus back up to fourth place in Serie A with a top-six finish activating their obligation to buy Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly.

The former Bournemouth left-back only joined Newcastle in the summer after his Cherries contract expired.

However, after failing to break into the Newcastle first-team, the Magpies accepted a bid from Juventus to take Kelly on loan in January with an obligation to buy in the summer for £20 million.

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Juventus are back on track to trigger their obligation to buy Lloyd Kelly

The obligation is triggered if Juventus qualify for any UEFA competition, which requires a top-six finish in Serie A.

We had joked that the Old Lady was doing whatever they could to avoid having to take Lloyd Kelly on a permanent basis after their defeat to Parma last week, but now they have another concern for the 26-year-old after the club released the following statement. (h/t The Shields Gazette)

“Lloyd Kelly, having reported a muscular problem in his right thigh at the end of last night's match, underwent diagnostic tests at J|medical this morning which revealed a low-grade lesion of the biceps femoris.

“In about 10 days, new tests will be repeated to define the exact recovery times."

Lloyd Kelly's season looks to be over

Lloyd Kelly has made 27 appearances for Juventus since his switch, and his average WhoScored? rating is 6.42, which is just about the right side of acceptable.

However, it's clear that his future lies away from Newcastle United, and that win for Juventus against Monza will go a long way to making that a reality.

Unfortunately, it looks like Kelly's season is probably over and he'll have no input into what happens to Juventus for the rest of the campaign.