Why A Move To Sign €7m Winger Could Be A Major Risk For Newcastle United Especially In January

Why A Move To Sign Chelsea’s Kenedy Could Be A Major Risk For Newcastle United Especially In January

According to recent reports, Chelsea have given Newcastle United the first refusal to sign Kenedy on loan in January after the Tyneside club attempted the move in the summer, though much depends on whether they sign someone else beforehand.

Toon boss Rafa Benitez, who is also interested in bringing in David Luiz, was left frustrated when a loan deal couldn’t be agreed for the 21-year-old Kenedy back in the summer after the move was blocked upon Chelsea’s failure to sign Juventus’ Alex Sandro.

The Stamford Bridge outfit are likely to try again for Sandro in January and if they succeed, they will give the green light to Newcastle to sign their Brazilian full-back.

Chelsea are interested in Monaco’s Thomas Lemar as well as Sandro, with the Frenchman also capable of playing in Conte’s left wing-back slot. However, if the Italian is unsuccessful in landing either player, then he will once again be very reluctant to let Kenedy go.

The €7m-rated Kenedy made only his third start of the season in Chelsea’s League Cup win against Bournemouth in midweek, setting up the opening goal of the night. He has appeared just 25 times in total for the Blues since joining from Fluminense back in 2015. His bid for more first-team appearances was not helped by his crude social media messages about China while the club were on tour there.

His off-field problems are the main sticking point when it comes to those in the know at Newcastle too. As well as the fact that it was hoped the days of taking top-four rejects were well and truly over, the fact Kenedy is not wanted more because of his off-field antics than his on-field abilities should be of major concern to Rafael Benitez and the Newcastle board.

True, Newcastle need a left-back but by the time any deal for Kenedy could be done, we could be heading hard and fast for February with only a few months left in the season. By then, Newcastle would be able to call upon Paul Dummett’s services. Dummett is no world beater of course, however, taking such a risk on Kenedy with a specialist left-back already available would appear futile to me.

An Andy Robertson, Jose Gaya or Philipp Max would be ideal and would help take Newcastle forward. Kenedy, on the other hand, is just too big a risk.