Tino Livramento has been bought for the present and the future | OneFootball

Tino Livramento is finally signing for Newcastle United from Southampton after a summer long pursuit.

‘Tino’ had his heart set on a move to St James’ Park to team up with Eddie Howe and he will be a welcome addition to our growing first team pool.

A few people have raised their eyebrows at the reported £40m fee, including add-ons, but I think this is going to turn out to be an excellent piece of business.

Tino Livramento was Chelsea’s Academy Player of the Year in 2020/21, and managed to make Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea bench against both Manchester City and Arsenal in the league run-in, as the Stamford Bridge club prepared for the Champions League Final against Man City.

Having been with his boyhood team since the age of nine, and having represented England at all levels from the Youth teams to the Under 21s, Tino Livramento turned down a new deal at Chelsea in the summer of 2021.

After being courted by AC Milan, RB Leipzig and Brighton, he signed for Southampton to enhance his chances of regular Premier League football.

This move turned out to be an instant success with Livramento standing out and receiving regular plaudits.

With his cultured defending and marauding attacking style at full-back, the inevitable comparisons with a young Gareth Bale were made by Saints fans.

A major set-back occurred in April 2022 when Tino suffered an ACL injury against Brighton and Hove Albion that would keep him out of the game for a year.

After a full year out he ironically returned to the Saints first team against the Seagulls, making a couple of appearances before the end of the season.

The romantically named (to give him his full name) Valentino Francisco Livramento has recently received praise from Southampton boss Russell Martin for his versatility and this will definitely not have been overlooked by Eddie Howe.

Newcastle United have signed a player for the present and the future and I am sure the club are delighted to have managed to get this deal over the line.

Chelsea were sniffing about and did have a buy-back clause put into their deal with Southampton in 2021, but as I’ve said, Tino Livramento wanted to wear the famous black and white stripes as soon as we showed our hand.

I’m confident that this young lad is going to hit the ground running this season and will be getting plenty of game time.

He also has the potential and ability to become a real Toon hero in the coming years.