by Tino Livramento may qualify to play for Scotland, but the Newcastle United defender is intent on proving he is good enough to represent England. It should be a formality.
The 21-year-old has been coy about his international future and does not want to upset Scotland or Portugal, where he can also play, but his intentions are clear.
Telegraph Sport understands that he is very much in the conversation to be included in Gareth Southgate’s next England squad, his newfound ability to play at left back, where he has been excellent for his club in recent games, makes him a potential reinforcement for the next one. Summer European Championship.
Although Scotland would like him to declare for them and can offer him an immediate call-up if he does, the stark reality is that the England Under-21 player, at this stage of his career, believes he is too good to leave the country. of his birth, just to be sure that he will go to Euro 2024 next year.
The 21-year-old is a particularly astute acquisition for Eddie Howe, who, to many people’s surprise, lobbied hard to sign the full-back from Southampton in the summer despite there being an argument that the £32million should have been spent elsewhere. campus areas.
In fact, Newcastle’s recruitment strategy was openly questioned. Not because Livramento was a bad player, but because he was not in the starting XI and clearly behind the starting right back (and arguably the club’s most important player), Kieran Trippier.
Howe limited Livramento to just two starts in the Carabao Cup until mid-November, where he excelled against both Manchester City and Manchester United. So why would he spend so much of a limited transfer budget, heavily restricted by profit and sustainability rules, on a second-row full-back?
Howe has always been polite when facing criticism for his decisions on Tyneside, but his body language betrayed his irritation at questions about whether the club had made a mistake by signing two full-backs, Livramento and Lewis Hall, who would not make their team. stronger. .
Newcastle, yes, thought in the medium and long term. Livramento had been one of the Premier League’s standout young players before suffering a serious knee injury at Southampton. They recognized that it was better to buy him from a relegated club in the summer than to wait for others to enter the bidding. The injury helped them achieve a long-term goal because others wanted to see him return to full fitness before making a move.
Newcastle’s recruitment team had been watching him closely since his early days at Chelsea and he was high on their wanted list before the knee injury. While others dallied, Newcastle pounced.
Even as Trippier’s long-term successor, the deal made some sense, but it was Livramento’s performances in a new position on the left that turned a smart deal into an inspired one. Howe wasn’t sure if he could thrive on the left, but his newfound versatility has elevated his game to a new level.
Watching Livramento against Chelsea, Paris St-Germain and Manchester United, he has dominated top wingers such as Cole Palmer, Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani, and Marcus Rashford. Defensively he is as good as any young full-back in Europe, but it is his ability to hurt teams offensively that makes the difference.
It was Livramento’s streak, in which he beat four PSG defenders, cutting in from the left wing, that led to Newcastle’s goal in Paris.
Against Manchester United last weekend, Rashford was crushed by his inability to beat his marker, whether with speed or skill, and was constantly exposed by the full-back running behind him to create overloads for Newcastle on the left.
With Trippier causing his usual chaos with Miguel Almirón on the right, Newcastle now have the same threat on the opposite wing, with Livramento and Anthony Gordon. He has balanced the team in a way that starting left back Dan Burn, who is out with a back injury, could not.
Burn was once considered one of Howe’s must-haves but it is doubtful he will make it into Newcastle’s strongest side when he returns to fitness. That’s how good Livramento has been.
It will raise some uncomfortable questions for Chelsea. Southampton had to sell him after relegation to help absorb the financial impact of falling into the Championship, but Chelsea did not and should not have sold him to the south coast club for just £5m in 2021. Many mistakes have been made. for Chelsea in recent years, but this is starting to look like one of the most important.
Livramento grew up a Chelsea fan and joined the club’s academy in 2009. He was talked about for years as one of their best prospects, in a highly competitive field. But they let his contract run into its final year and, with the player eager for first-team opportunities, effectively forced his way out by refusing to sign an extension.
He had seen many promising Chelsea youngsters stagnate, waiting until they were 20, before deciding to leave. The road to regular first-team football was littered with costly obstacles. No less important was the fact that club captain Cesar Azpilicueta was installed at right back and England international Reece James, just three years older and another academy graduate also established in the first team.
Chelsea had two excellent young right-backs emerging at around the same time and Livramento wasn’t going to be told to be patient. Unlike others pacified by Chelsea, he was also not interested in going out on loan to be able to play. He was in a hurry to continue his career and suspected that he would have to wait too long at Chelsea to flourish.
Then-manager Thomas Tuchel was successful at Stamford Bridge and won the Champions League in 2021, but did not show enough interest in Livramento. He was named on the bench twice by the German but did not play a single minute before the end of the 2020-21 campaign and that cemented his misgivings.
The move to Southampton was exactly what he needed and even a long-term injury has failed to derail his rapid progress and development.
Newcastle recognized what Chelsea had failed to detect. They appear to be in possession of a player who will become England’s best full-back, on both sides, for years to come. Suddenly, an expensive substitute player seems like one of the bargains of the season.
