Director of football issues transfer message to Newcastle United & Liverpool after £30m bid

Newcastle saw a £30million bid for the 20-year-old rejected by The Saints last month but are understood to be close to reaching an agreement with the Championship side. A major stumbling block when it comes to agreeing a deal has been Chelsea’s significant sell-on clause for the England Under-21 international.

The Blues will get around 40% of the profits Southampton make from selling Livramento. As a result, The Saints are holding out for a ‘win-win’ offer to be made.

Livramento featured just twice for Southampton in their ill-fated 2022-23 Premier League campaign that saw them relegated to the Championship. The youngster suffered an ACL injury in April 2022 that ruled him out of competitive action for over a year.

And Southampton director of football Jason Wilcox has issued a warning to clubs interested in certain players. Several Saints players have attracted interest in addition to Livramento with Liverpool pushing to sign midfielder Romeo Lavia after having a £34million bid rejected.

Wilcox told the Daily Echo: “When I looked across the squad, I thought there is going to be a huge Premier League market for certain players – without naming names.

“I’ve got a responsibility to make the right recommendations to the football club on whether we should accept something and we can reinvest, whether it’s the right thing for the player or the club.

“In these situations, the best situation is to have a win-win agreement where it’s the best solution for all parties – but we’ve got a value on them. We’re a big football club that has been relegated to the Championship but we’ve got a value and we’re not going to allow our players to leave if we don’t feel it’s a win-win.

“If a club wants to take our players on the cheap and we feel as though we’re losing then that’s not a win-win agreement – there has to be a compromise.

“There will be situations where we say to players ‘I’m really sorry but the value is not there, you’re going to be with us in the Championship and have to generate your Premier League value’.”