‘Really bad news’ – Manager confirms bitter blow to Spurs’ rumoured pursuit of 25-year-old
Boss of Bournemouth Andoni Iraola has revealed that Lloyd Kelly, the rumored Tottenham target, will now need to sit out a significant amount of time due to injury.
Kelly is reportedly among the names at the top of the Lilywhites’ wishlist. It is well known that the Spurs are prioritizing buying a central defender in January (GiveMeSport).
With little over six months remaining on his contract with the Cherries (Transefermarkt), a number of teams, notably AC Milan (TMW), Juventus (Fabrizio Romano), Liverpool (Football Insider), and Arsenal (Tuttosport), are reportedly keeping a close eye on the 25-year-old.
But even with the increasing interest in Kelly’s talents, TEAMtalk claimed a few weeks ago that Tottenham is still Kelly’s most likely destination.
Lloyd Kelly pics up serious injury amid Spurs interest
Spurs’ efforts to sign the center back, though, may now be in jeopardy as word leaked out that he will likely need to spend a significant amount of time recovering on the sidelines.
Iraola just mentioned that Kelly will be out of commission for “some weeks,” without providing a precise time frame.
The Spaniard stated on the official Bournemouth website: “Lloyd Kelly has some very dreadful news. He will be out for a few weeks due to a muscular ailment.
He has been doing incredibly well right from the start. He has performed admirably at center back, both defensively and offensively, and he is an excellent player.
“Obviously, you never want your best players hurt, but every club experiences this. We need to be prepared to be strong in his absence, and we have excellent options.
“The schedule isn’t ideal because we have a lot of important games coming up, but we’re hoping that nothing more goes wrong in training and we’ll have the same squad available for action this weekend.”
Tottenham’s interest in Kelly for January may come to a stop as a result of this injury because the North London team would prefer not to pay a transfer fee for the center-back until his fitness is confirmed, especially because Kelly would be eligible to sign for free the following summer.
