Tino Livramento: Southampton's £30m ‘future star’ set for imminent Newcastle United transfer

Following deals for Yankuba Minteh, Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento could be the next man to make the move to Tyneside this summer. Livramento’s arrival would strengthen the quality of options in defence available to Eddie Howe, but just who is he, what can fans expect from Livramento and why one former teammate believes he will become a ‘future star’?

Who is Tino Livramento?

Livramento currently plays his football for recently relegated Southampton. Having come through Chelsea’s academy, he moved to St Mary’s in August 2021 in a bid to get more regular first-team football.

And that was achieved during his first season at the club as he featured 31 times in all competitions, however, he suffered an ACL injury against Brighton in April 2022 which cut-short his season and meant he managed to play just twice for the Saints last term after suffering a setback in January. His first season at the Saints saw Livramento develop into one of the country’s most promising defenders and someone that many tipped to become a regular feature in the England set-up for years to come.

What would Tino Livramento bring to Newcastle United?

Before his injury, Livramento caught the eye with some brilliant defensive displays with his pace and athleticism a major strength of his game. Playing predominantly at right-back, he would likely act as cover to Kieran Trippier and allow Howe to rotate his defensive unit amid an increase in midweek games following their qualification for the Champions League.

There has been talk about Livramento possibly being used at left-back and whilst this is an option the club could exercise, it’s likely that they will still look to strengthen that area in this summer’s transfer market. The club, meanwhile, will also be keen not to rush the 20-year-old into the first-team fold and will ensure they manage any fallout from his injury carefully.

‘Future star’ praise from ex-teammate

As mentioned, Livramento was very good at Southampton before his injury and someone that many in the game believes has a bright future. One of those with high hopes for Livramento is former Arsenal and Southampton forward Theo Walcott.

Speaking on TalkSport in late 2021, Walcott was full of praise for Livramento’s start to life at St Mary’s, describing his new teammate as a ‘future star’ of the game. Walcott said: "You can just see he's got an aura about him around the place.

"He's changed completely which is really nice to see when you get a bit more confident, he's not as shy and timid around the place he's got a bit more of a presence. It just shows that there's a future star there but again we need to be careful as we always do but it's why we love football isn't it? I can't complain, he's been absolutely fantastic.

"Do you know what, he reminds me a little bit of Gareth [Bale] when he came through as a full-back. That's a big statement of course to compare him to someone like that but just feel like his presence and the way he drives and the pace and the power and it's no surprise that you know what he's going to do.”