For all Newcastle United plan to splash the cash on senior, experienced players this summer, there is also a desire among the Magpies' hierarchy to add young, prospective talent to Eddie Howe's ranks.
Dan Ashworth has already made it clear Newcastle cannot continue to sign 'here and now' players as attention switches to ensuring future stars are also brought to Tyneside. The likes of Garang Kuol and Yankuba Minteh have been signed and immediately loaned out but one youngster who would likely stick around is Tino Livramento.
Newcastle are keen on the Southampton right-back, 20, who impressed at Chelsea before opting to leave his boyhood club for regular minutes on the south coast. A fee is yet to be agreed with the Saints but the Magpies are confident a deal can be struck for the full-back.
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Livramento's arrival would represent a shrewd piece of business for Newcastle, who have been taking a look at a number of recently-relegated players. For all there has been excitement over James Ward-Prowse, James Maddison, Tyler Adams and more, purchasing a 20-year-old who could, if asked, walk into the first-team shows Newcastle's new-found transfer savviness.
Livramento's meteoric rise at Chelsea before a fine start at Southampton even had Gareth Southgate keeping a close eye over his progress back in 2021. “Reece (James) and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) are performing at a really high level," the England boss said. "I also think Tino Livramento, when talking about young players, has had an excellent start to the season.”
However, Livramento's rapid ascent to the top was brought to an abrupt halt after an unfortunate anterior cruciate ligament injury in April 2022. It would see the England U21 star ruled out for a whopping 392 days.
Knee injuries of that magnitude are hard to come back from. Just ask Newcastle's Emil Krafth who suffered a similar issue in August 2022 and hasn't featured since. Naturally, there are minor fears among the Newcastle support as to whether such a lengthy recovery has affected Livramento's ability.
However, the Southampton man looked as good as ever when making his eagerly-awaited comeback against Brighton last month. Livramento himself states he is ready to start impressing again.
“If I get injured again, it will be because I’ve given everything to the game and not because I was not going into a tackle or being a bit lazy or something like that," he told the Daily Echo after his return.
“I wanted to make sure when I got the opportunity I would be giving 100 per cent whatever happens and it’s almost better to have that now so when it happens in a Premier League game I’m mentally ready.”
Newcastle may have found the perfect heir to Kieran Trippier and could pull off one of the deals of the summer if Livramento still retains the same ability as he insists he does.
