'What's he great at?' - Former Premier League captain delivers bizarre verdict on Newcastle United's £32m star
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Newcastle United star Tino Livramento will head into Monday night’s home clash with West Ham United fresh from making his senior debut for England.
The former Chelsea and Southampton full-back was named in England squad’s during the previous two international breaks earlier this season but remained on unused substitute for four consecutive Nations League fixtures. That pattern continued when Livramento remained on the bench for a 3-0 win in Greece earlier this month - but he finally claimed his first senior cap when he was named in the starting eleven for last Sunday’s 5-0 Wembley win against the Republic of Ireland.
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Hide AdSpeaking on seeing Livramento join Magpies team-mates Lewis Hall and Anthony Gordon in the England side that secured Nations League promotion with a big win against the Republic, the United manager said: "We all watched the game together at the hotel we were in in Saudi. There was an enormous amount of pride watching them, not just perform but how well they performed and how they contributed to the win. It was a great thing to see, and great to see Anthony score his first goal."
However, Livramento’s performance did not seem to convince former Watford captain Troy Deeney, who openly questioned the Magpies full-back defensive qualities after watching him make his senior debut for the Three Lions.
He told talkSPORT: ”I'm not sure on Livramento just yet. Look, it's hard to talk about people that are getting called up to the national team. What’s he great at? We talk about balance. Is he an attacking wing-back or full-back? We've got that in Trent (Alexander-Arnold). Is he better defensively than the others? I'd argue not. I don’t know. Maybe it's just because of all the injuries that he's getting in, but I just don't see it at the moment. We've done a few of the Newcastle games. He gets caught defensively at the back post for watching, waiting, not anticipating. When it’s all said and done, I just think think the full-back area is going to become a problem for England going forward, as well as the number nine position."
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