THREAD🧵: Lloyd Kelly - Newcastle United's New Versatile Defender 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #NUFC are on the verge signing of Lloyd Kelly on a free transfer following his contract expiry at Bournemouth. Eddie Howe has now signed him for the 2nd time in his career - why does he rate Kelly so highly?

Kelly came through the academy of Bristol City, where one season as a regular for them in the Championship aged 19 was enough to convince Eddie Howe and Bournemouth’s scouting team to bring him to the Premier League for £13m.

A large part of Kelly’s value is derived from his positional flexibility. He’s had experience as a left-back, as a centre-back in a back four, and on the left of a back three. For a player to be equally comfortable in both roles is valuable to any squad.

This versatility is underpinned by Kelly’s pure defensive fundamentals and quality. He’s a fairly balanced defender - he’s comfortable at stepping up high and being physical in duels, but looks equally comfortable and stepping off and covering space.

The latter is more similar to Botman, who although is less athletic - reads the game well. Being able to replicate this similar approach further outlines why he profiles well as a CB for us alongside the more aggressive Schar.

Lloyd Kelly reads the game pretty well, but predominantly relies on his acceleration and speed to cover space. He’s excellent at defending wide channels, and is a good 1v1 defender which allows him to hold his own when isolated out wide.

His body position and ability to adjust over short distances allows him to track opponents well in 1v1 scenarios, and his height and long legs allow him to intervene effectively both with standing and sliding tackles.

Kelly's physicality also extends to his power and dominance in duels. He uses his upper body well, and standing at 6”3, he’s solid aerially. This aerial ability is highly useful to Howe’s philosophy - both with defending and attacking set-pieces.

Kelly is solid but unspectacular with the ball at his feet. His technical fundamentals are sound, but lacks top-level incision with his passing and carrying. His ball manipulation could improve too, as well as his general technical consistency.

His main quality with the ball is his big switch however, which is really useful for the way #NUFC play. He’s also adept are driving out of defence with the ball, but also tends to be fairly risk averse with these actions.

The 25 year-old’s other common action in possession is a clipped ball into the left channel, often looking for the run in behind of his striker - which is the sort of run in the sort of area where Alexander Isak tends to operate.

The other really important quality of Kelly - his leadership. Lloyd Kelly captained Bournemouth to promotion aged 23. As some of our current leaders start to age, having a younger player who can become a part of our leadership group is genuinely really valuable.

Also, by all accounts from his coaches at Bristol City and Bournemouth - Kelly’s work ethic, attitude and commitment is of a top standard. These are qualities which fans don’t see on the pitch, but it makes all the difference behind the scenes.

One of the big concerns with Lloyd Kelly however, is his injury record. Lloyd Kelly has missed 85 games through injury in his career, and has missed at least 10 games in 4 of his 5 seasons at Bournemouth.

The fact they’re mostly muscle injuries is a concern too - and it’s the one main drawback to this deal. However, the fact that Kelly will be a squad player at #NUFC, and less relied upon than he was Bournemouth - will hopefully ease his load, and injury problems.

From a squad planning perspective, it makes so much sense. In the short-term, he becomes an alternative to Sven Botman while he’s still recovering from his ACL injury. And as mentioned before, he has the right profile to play there and to complement Schar.

Of course Dan Burn can do this too, with Lewis Hall at LB - but in games where we need a more physical LB who can add more dominance aerially, or perhaps games where we’re more keen on the asymmetric back four, then we have the ability to play both Burn and Kelly.

In the medium run, when Botman is back - of course the Dutchman will start at LCB. Kelly then essentially becomes a long-term replacement for Dan Burn - able to fill in at CB, but also gives us that left-back option who’s suitable for the asymmetric back four.

Lloyd Kelly is a player I’ve talked up for a move to #NUFC for a long time on here, going all the way back to 2021, and consistently since then up until now. It’s great to see us go for him, and I back him to make a really positive impact.

It’s been a long time since I wrote a thread, and it felt nice to be back doing it. Working professionally in player recruitment means that it’s now my job to scout players - and hence I can’t really write about up-and-coming players, and transfers in general as much.

But when a player is holding up the scarf at St James Park (or near enough in this case) then there’s no problem. When a player signs for #NUFC summer, I’ll make sure to write a thread on them. Stay tuned for that.

As for Lloyd Kelly, it’s a very solid signing. He’s not a game-changer any means - but he’s a known quantity on a free transfer, and is a player who helps to solve multiple issues in the squad. It's a steady start to an important summer for #NUFC.

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