Liverpool in THREE-WAY battle for wantaway Premier League star
Tom Weber
- Updated: 8 Sept 2023 15:29 BST
- 3 min read
Three Premier League heavyweights are set to battle it out for Lloyd Kelly's signature in January, according to a report.
The Bournemouth star is out of contract at the end of the season and he has no intention to extend his stay on England's South Coast. This has attracted the attention of several Premier League clubs, with Tottenham already making a late bid during the summer window.
That approach was rejected because Bournemouth felt they didn't have enough time to bring in a replacement. This was a gamble because they are now faced with the threat of losing Kelly for nothing next summer, but they will be heartened by the fact that some clubs may just be desperate enough to pay up in January.
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Among the clubs keen on the former Bristol City man are Liverpool, but they are far from the only ones.
Three-way battle
According to 90min, Tottenham are ready to go back in for Kelly, having recently offloaded Davidson Sanchez to Galatasaray. Moreover, Newcastle United are eyeing a move for the 24-year-old after being stretched thin defensively due to early-season injuries.
What makes Kelly so attractive is the fact that he is a left-sided centre-back, something of a rare commodity in football. Hence also why Liverpool are interested.
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Fabrizio Romano revealed earlier in the summer that the Anfield club were scouring the market for young left-sided defenders, but nothing ultimately materialised with Liverpool more focused on completing their midfield rebuild.
Micky van de Ven was among the players being looked at by the Reds, but he ended up signing for Tottenham. Kelly could represent a decent value-for-money January buy given his contract length, though it would perhaps be smarter - and certainly cheaper - to get him to agree to a pre-contract for the summer.
