Former Everton midfielder Don Hutchinson believes Newcastle United will gain from Tosin Adarabioyo’s decision to join Chelsea this summer. Newcastle were strongly linked with Adarabioyo but Chelsea’s interest surpassed their own attempts to convince him to move to St James’ Park. Instead, Adarabioyo opted to reunite with Enzo Maresca, his former coach at Manchester City, at Stamford Bridge for the upcoming season.
Following their unsuccessful pursuit of Adarabioyo, Newcastle swiftly redirected their focus to securing Lloyd Kelly to avoid a similar disappointment. They successfully signed Kelly to a five-year contract at St James’ Park, adding depth at both centre-back and left-back. Kelly’s arrival is seen as crucial, especially with Sven Botman sidelined due to an ACL injury.
In an interview with ESPN, Hutchinson expressed his belief that Kelly is a superior player to Adarabioyo, suggesting that Newcastle have benefited from their initial setback. He said, “They’ve signed Lloyd Kelly, who I think is a very good player. Tosin to Chelsea. Kelly is a better player than him. I think they’ve had a result there.”
Kelly became Newcastle United’s first confirmed signing of the summer, with Lewis Hall set to become their second once his loan move is made permanent next month. The summer transfer window officially opened on Friday and will run for eleven weeks until Friday, August 30th.
