Lloyd Kelly permanent transfer to Juventus now precarious | OneFootball

Just over eleven weeks ago, Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly signed for Juventus.

After only four Serie A starts for the loan signing, the manager who signed him, Thiago Motta, was sacked.

The Lloyd Kelly Juventus deal was a loan with an obligation to buy if certain conditions were met.

Those conditions widely reported as all but a’ formality’.

The official release from Juventus (see below) stated that; ‘Given the high probability of the conditions for the player’s acquisition being achieved, this transaction for accounting purposes, qualifies as a definitive effective acquisition…’

Juventus also giving the exact amounts of money that Newcastle United would receive:

A loan fee of €3 million (approx £2.5m) for season 2024/2025.

Then if the obligation to buy was triggered, a guaranteed further €14.5 million (approx £12.0m)

Then up to another €6.5 million (approx £5.4m) in future add-ons if certain targets were met.

In late February, the conditions needed to trigger the permanent Lloyd Kelly move were made public.

Tuttomercatoweb revealing that their information was that Juventus must buy Lloyd Kelly, if this current 2024/25 season, they qualify for any UEFA competition to play in, in the 2025/26 season.

That includes the Europa Conference League, so if Juventus finish in the top six of Serie A, that would activate that obligation.

The bad news is that this Lloyd Kelly permanent deal is now looking precarious.

The worry is that if the permanent deal isn’t automatically triggered by Juventus qualifying for a European competition, then they may well decide not to choose to follow through with the permanent deal, especially now that the manager who signed him is no longer at the club.

The Pope’s death meant that all Serie A matches were postponed on Easter Monday, to be played on Wednesday (yesterday) instead.

It couldn’t have gone worse for Juventus (and Newcastle’s hopes of making this Lloyd Kelly deal permanent).

The Serie A results yesterday included:

Parma 1 Juventus 0

Genoa 0 Lazio 2

Cagliari 1 Fiorentina 2

Losing to relegation threatened Parma was bad enough, however, these other two results made it a disastrous night for Juventus.

This is how the Serie A table now looks on Thursday (24 April) morning:

As you can see, with Juventus losing and both Lazio and Fiorentina winning, it has meant Juve’s chances of finishing top six and ensuring European football next season, now look really in the balance.

A lot of the reporting around Lloyd Kelly has been a bit unfair, both Italian and English media desperate to want to portray it as some kind of disaster.

The reality is that Lloyd Kelly has been a constant in the Juventus team and played all of these last eight Serie A matches.

Two heavy defeats to Atalanta and Fiorentina but in the other six Serie A games that Lloyd Kelly has started, Juventus have only conceded four goals in those six league matches.

The big problem for Juventus has been creating and scoring goals, with only four goals in the last six Serie A matches. That was the big problem last night, creating next to no goal threat against Parma.

The next three Juventus matches look massive for their European chances and automatically triggering the Lloyd Kelly permanent deal where Newcastle United are concerned.

With only five games to go, Sunday is an absolute must win match at home to rock bottom Monza.

After that, Juventus then are away to Bologna who are currently one place and one point above Juve, then away to Lazio who are only behind them on goal difference.

Juventus official confirmation of details on the Lloyd Kelly deal – 3 February 2025:

‘Agreement with Newcastle for the acquisition of the player Kelly

Turin, 3 February 2025

Juventus Football Club S. p. A. announces that an agreement with Newcastle United Football Club for the temporary acquisition, until 30 June 2025, of the registration rights of the player Kelly Lloyd Casius has been reached for a consideration of €3 million (approx £2.5m) for sporting season 2024/2025, with additional costs of up to €0.8 million (approx £0.66m).

The agreement further entails the obligation for Juventus to definitely acquire the player’s registration rights, subject to the achievement of certain sporting objective during the season 2024/2025. The agreed consideration for the definitive acquisition is €14.5 million (approx £12.0m), payable in three financial years, with additional costs of up to €2.7 million (approx £2.24m). This consideration may be increased up to a consideration of €6.5 million (approx £5.4m) over the duration of the player’s contract, upon the achievement of further performance objectives.

Given the high probability of the conditions for the player’s acquisition being achieved, this transaction for accounting purposes, qualifies as a definitive effective acquisition from today for a total amount of €17.5 million (approx £14.5m), plus additional costs. It should be noted that the final evaluations about the accounting recognition of the transaction will be performed for the preparation of the Annual Financial Report as of 25 June 2025.’