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Chelsea's Kenedy completes loan move to Newcastle until end of season

Chelsea midfielder Kenedy has completed a loan move to Newcastle United until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old will spend the rest of the 2017-18 campaign with Rafael Benitez's side after seeing his game time limited at Stamford Bridge this season.

Kenedy has only made five starts for Chelsea this term, all in the Cup competitions, and will now aim to increase his playing time at Newcastle. He will not, however, be eligible to play against Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday.

This will be Kenedy's second loan spell since moving to Chelsea from Brazilian club Fluminense in August 2015 after the midfielder spent the first half of the 2016-17 campaign on loan at Watford.

However, he only lasted four months at the club after seeing his game time restricted to just one appearance because of a knee injury.

Following his return to Chelsea, he played a mostly substitute role before seeing controversy halt his pre-season when he was sent back from the club's pre-season tour of the Far East due to offensive social media posts.

But he re-gained Conte's trust this season, with the Italian saying on Friday: "For sure we are talking about a young player with great potential. He needs to play with regularity. To go to Newcastle, it’s a great challenge for him.

"This is a good way for the club. We used the same way for Andreas Christensen (loaned to Borussia Monchengladbach) and he is now a Chelsea player and always playing in starting XI.

"This is a good opportunity for him (Kenedy). He must be ready to fight to play in Newcastle - don’t forget last season he spent first six months at Watford and struggled to play.

"But I think now he’s more ready. He plays with us in many games and can show his potential on loan."