Tino Livramento may qualify to play for Scotland, but the Newcastle United defender wants to prove he is good enough to represent England. It should be a formality.
The 21-year-old has remained coy about his international future and does not want to upset Scotland and Portugal, whoever he may play for, but his intentions are clear.
Telegraph Sport understands he is in full discussions to be included in Gareth Southgate’s next England squad. His newfound ability to play as a left back – where he has been fantastic for his club in the last few games – makes him a potential defender for the next few games. the summer European Championship.
While Scotland would like him to speak out for them and could offer him an immediate call-up if he does, the stark reality is that at this stage of his career the England Under-21 player believes he is too good to country to leave his career. birth, just to be sure he will go to Euro 2024 next year.
The 21-year-old is a particularly astute signing for Eddie Howe, who, much to many people’s surprise, pushed hard to sign the full-back from Southampton in the summer, even though there was an argument that the £32m had other business must be issued. of the team.
Newcastle’s recruitment strategy was even openly questioned. Not because Livramento was a bad player, but he was not in the starting line-up and was clearly behind first-choice 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 United. Why then spend such a large part of a limited transfer budget, tightly constrained by profit and sustainability rules, on a second set of full-backs?
Howe has always remained polite when faced with criticism for his decisions on Tyneside, but his body language betrayed his irritation when questioned about whether the club had made a mistake in signing two full-backs in Livramento and Lewis Hall, who was not would get its strongest team.
However, Newcastle was thinking about the medium and long term. Livramento was one of the best young players in the Premier League before suffering a serious knee injury at Southampton. They realized it was better to buy him from a relegated club in the summer than wait for others to join the bid. The injury helped them set a long-term goal as others wanted to see him back to full fitness before making a move.
Newcastle’s recruitment team had been keeping a close eye on him since his early days at Chelsea and before the knee injury he was high on the wanted list. While others dawdled, Newcastle dove.
Even as Trippier’s long-term successor, the deal made sense, but it was Livramento’s performance in a new position on the left that had inspired a smart company. Howe wasn’t sure he could thrive on the left, but his newfound versatility has taken his game to a new level.
Watching Livramento against Chelsea, Paris St-Germain and Manchester United, he dominated high-class 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 the team offensively that makes the difference.
It was Livramento’s run, in which he beat four PSG defenders coming 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 with either pace or skill and was constantly exposed to the entire backline sprinting behind him, creating overload 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 other wing with Livramento and Anthony Gordon. It has balanced the team in a way that first-choice left-back Dan Burn, who is out with a back injury, could not.
Burn was once considered one of Howe’s indispensable players, but it is doubtful he will find himself in Newcastle’s strongest squad when he returns to fitness. Livramento has been that good.
It will raise some tough questions for Chelsea. Southampton had to sell him after relegation to help cushion the financial blow of falling back into the Championship, but Chelsea did not and should not have sold him to the south coast club in 2021 for just £5m. Many mistakes have been made. by Chelsea in recent years, but this is starting to look like one of their biggest.
Livramento grew up as a Chelsea fan and joined the club’s Academy in 2009. He was talked about for years as one of their top prospects – in a highly competitive field. But they let his contract enter the final year and with the player eager to get first-team opportunities, they essentially forced his departure by refusing to sign an extension.
He had seen too many promising Chelsea youngsters stagnate, waiting until their early twenties before deciding to leave. The road to regular first-team football was littered with expensive obstacles. Not least the fact that club captain César Azpilicueta was entrenched 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 at about the same time and Livramento was not going to be told to be patient. He was also, unlike others pacified by Chelsea, interested in simply being loaned out to play. He was in a hurry to move on with his career and suspected 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 he showed too little interest in Livramento. He was named on the bench twice by the German but did not play a minute before the end of the 2020/21 season and that reinforced his doubts.
The move to Southampton was exactly what he needed and even a long-term injury has not been able to derail his rapid progress and development.
Newcastle recognized what Chelsea had failed to notice. It looks like they are in possession of a player who will become England’s best full-back on both sides for years to come. Suddenly an expensive reserve player seems like one of the bargains of the season.