When Newcastle United committed around £40million ($51.4m at the current exchange rate) to sign Tino Livramento last summer, some of their fans questioned spending that much on a player who would be Kieran Trippier’s understudy.
Insiders, however, viewed the then 20-year-old as Trippier’s ideal long-term successor, while also believing he could deliver in the short term. Moreover, they were utterly convinced Livramento would develop into one of the Premier League’s best right-backs and an England regular. That’s how highly they rated Southampton’s Chelsea academy graduate.
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Seven months on, any sceptical supporters have been universally converted: they now share Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe’s genuine excitement about Livramento. His dribble and (admittedly scruffy) finish for the third against Wolverhampton Wanderers in last weekend’s 3-0 home win may have been his first goal for the club but it was just the latest highlight to add to an ever-expanding reel of standout moments.
Of Newcastle’s four summer 2023 first-team signings, Livramento has arguably been the only unqualified success so far — given Sandro Tonali’s ongoing 10-month suspension, Harvey Barnes’ fitness problems and Lewis Hall’s lack of game time — and that is why Trippier’s current injury is not the disaster it would have represented last season.
It is a blow, undoubtedly, given the England stalwart’s leadership skills and attacking contributions, but some at Newcastle feel Livramento would get into many of the other 19 top-flight teams. Livramento is not really a downgrade on Trippier, just a less experienced and stylistically different right-back: one who offers pace and a ball-carrying threat.
Since delivering a man-of-the-match performance on his full debut against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup in September — the same night Hall made his own less-auspicious first start; getting shifted around three positions before being hooked at half-time — Livramento has impressed at almost every opportunity. Despite barely playing left-back previously, Livramento has even leapfrogged Hall in the pecking order there, too.
That night, a song from Newcastle’s past offered a glimpse into the club’s future. Livramento’s full first name is Valentino but few, beyond close family, ever call him that — and to Newcastle supporters, he is their new “Tino”.
Upon joining the club, Livramento was bemused by the viral photos of Faustino Asprilla arriving in a fur coat when he arrived on Tyneside in January 1996 but quickly became aware of the Colombian striker’s continuing cult-hero status. Then the “Tino, Tino!” chants — first used to serenade Asprilla during his two-year stay — returned for Livramento’s bow.
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Livramento is now so well regarded by supporters that some had recently been calling for him to displace Dan Burn at left-back, even though that is not the right-footer’s natural position.
Finally, however, as he prepares to face his boyhood club at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, Livramento has an opportunity to excel in his favoured right-back role.
Howe has unwavering faith that he will step up to the occasion.
Although Livramento has proven versatile — as well as left-back, he has even played on the wing this season — it was not his adaptability that so attracted Newcastle. Rather, it was his specialism: as an offensive-minded right-back who could continue to provide a key attacking threat during a now 33-year-old Trippier’s absences. A more defensive-minded right-back would change Newcastle’s dynamic and Howe did not want to adapt their approach.
When it came to strengthening the starting XI, right-back was not a priority position for the club last summer but recruiting another right-sided defender was of primary concern.
Alongside midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, Trippier was the player the coaching staff most feared succumbing to injury last season, because Newcastle did not possess an adequate replacement.
Full-backs are absolutely fundamental to the way Howe’s side play — which is why another left-back was also desired, to provide competition for Burn and Matt Targett — though the need was far greater down the opposite flank. Trippier is central to Newcastle’s game plan, especially in an attacking sense, so a superior stand-in was required.
Fortunately, Trippier largely avoided injury throughout last season, starting all 38 top-flight matches. Yet, shortly after signing from Atletico Madrid in January 2022, he suffered a broken foot and made only six league appearances during the second half of his debut campaign.
With Emil Krafth still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury suffered in August last year and Javier Manquillo facing his own fitness problems, Howe felt he could not risk the additional challenge of Champions League football without a quality alternative. He sought an heir to Trippier but also a right-back capable of starting games to lighten the load on a player turning 33 a month into this season.
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The recruitment department were instructed to source another right-back and many inside the club were already fixed upon one outstanding candidate, so much so that Newcastle had representatives tracking Southampton’s final two matches of the season. They were watching Livramento, not his team-mates Romeo Lavia or James Ward-Prowse, as was speculated at the time.
Livramento had been courted by Brighton in 2021 when he was looking to leave Chelsea in search of first-team football. Dan Ashworth, Newcastle’s sporting director, had therefore been well briefed on the young full-back during his time at Brighton and had followed his subsequent progress.
Andy Howe — now assistant head of recruitment and who his uncle Eddie publicly credited for securing the Livramento deal on Friday — had also tracked the player closely. Bournemouth, Andy Howe’s then club, also showed an interest in 2021 but Livramento opted to join a top-flight side, rather than drop down to the Championship with them.
The then 18-year-old chose Southampton, who were the most aggressive club in terms of pursuing him. Their sales pitch was impressive, demonstrating a clear pathway into their first team, and they delivered, immediately handing Livramento a Premier League debut in their season opener away against Everton. Across that 2021-22 season, Livramento made 32 senior appearances with 27 starts.
But the Premier League’s elite sides, and clubs across Europe, had also taken notice of Livramento’s youth career because it was so eye-catching.
Scotland and Portugal have been monitoring Livramento’s situation — he qualifies to play for those nations through his mother and father respectively — given he is yet to make his senior England debut. Livramento did make 35 appearances for England’s youth sides, however, including nine under-21 caps, and the country of the south Londoner’s birth believe he will eventually play for them.
Newcastle, during their own exhaustive scouting, pored over clips of Livramento’s time at Chelsea’s academy, where he was a contemporary of Levi Colwill and Jamal Musiala, now of Bayern Munich and Germany, and sourced character references.
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One recruitment official at a Premier League club described Livramento’s performances for Chelsea’s under-18s and under-21s in 2020-21 as “a joke”. From right-back and right wing-back, he had 13 goal involvements, assisting 10 times and scoring three. Unsurprisingly, he was named Chelsea’s academy player of the year.
Livramento’s outstanding first season at Southampton only crystallised the interest of other clubs. However, there was some hesitancy, given the ACL injury that kept him out for 392 days from April 2022.
But if there were concerns that issue might affect his development, Newcastle saw enough during those two 13-minute substitute appearances when he returned at the end of last season to be persuaded there would be no long-term ill-effects. His dedication to his rehabilitation was evident and, athletically, he appeared uninhibited on the field.
There is a suggestion that other Premier League clubs preferred to see Livramento play over a longer period post-injury before making a move but Newcastle made clear to his representatives that they wanted him last summer.
Newcastle may have paid more than they initially intended — their first offer was around £23million — yet, at first, Southampton were seeking the best part of £50m. That was due to a complicated sliding-scale sell-on clause inserted by Chelsea, who had let him leave for only £4m two years previously.
Eventually, Newcastle agreed to a fee in the region of £40million, which seemed pricey at the time.
Although Livramento may have different strengths to Trippier, his mindset as a full-back, with a desire to attack and get crosses into the box, is identical. That is why Newcastle pursued him with such determination.
Offensively, Livramento’s qualities as a right-back, given he is a former wide forward, were obvious. One area Newcastle suspected would require greater development was his defending, especially one-v-one.
While the coaching staff have actively worked with Livramento on defending, he had already been looking to improve himself. His shackling of Manchester City’s England international Jack Grealish during that September debut hinted that this was a potentially excellent all-round full-back.
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The view among the coaches is that Livramento is like a sponge, absorbing information — Howe was impressed by the swiftness with which he grasped the requirements to play as a full-back in his team.
His calmness, on and off the field, and his ability to bounce back from adversity were strengths Newcastle identified during background checks and have proven correct.
The controversial and costly 98th-minute penalty awarded against him for handball in the 1-1 Champions League draw away against Paris Saint-Germain in November, following a magnificent display from left-back where his slaloming run set up Alexander Isak’s opener, could have affected the former Chelsea youngster.
After that night, Livramento focused on his defensive performance. The confidence that coaching staff have noted he has in himself — not arrogance, but firm self-belief — means he does not allow negativity to fester.
Given his extended injury layoff, with a hamstring issue following the ACL, Howe intended to gradually integrate Livramento — a luxury he was afforded given Trippier remained fit.
Livramento has now made 29 Newcastle appearances across all competitions, with 13 starts, but on only four occasions has he been deployed as a right-back. The majority of his starts have been at left-back, with occasional games as a winger.
His success at left-back has pleasantly surprised insiders. Newcastle did not know he could play the position to such a high level, given his lack of football there, even at youth level.
Trippier was actually shifted from right-back to left-back when Livramento came on at half-time in successive league games against Arsenal and Bournemouth in November, before it was determined that the latter could play on the other flank so proficiently. Whereas Trippier’s attacking threat is slightly nullified when he is used on the left, Livramento’s ability to carry possession has proven largely undiminished.
Ironically, Livramento has jumped ahead of fellow summer arrival Hall, who was signed as a left-back, for that position. The 19-year-old is not yet considered defensively ready to play there regularly in the Premier League, with his conversion from midfield still ongoing.
Even considering the above, Livramento was signed by Newcastle to play right-back — and he will be integral to their prospects against Chelsea and Manchester City in their next two games. After all, few players are as central to a Premier League side’s offensive approach as Trippier is to Newcastle’s.
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Before this weekend’s round of top-flight games began, Trippier boasted the joint-most assists in the division (10) and no player had completed more crosses than his 65. What’s more, he is renowned for his progressive play: only four players have averaged a greater number of progressive passes per game across 2023-24 than Trippier (7.0) — The Athletic defines a progressive pass as one which moves the ball more than 25 per cent closer to the centre of the opposition goal.
Below, Trippier’s six most common progressive passes are shown. His importance at moving the ball into dangerous half-spaces, both from a wide full-back position (first, fourth and sixth most common) and from an inverted role (second most common) is evident.
He also excels at moving the ball down the line (third) and at crossing (fifth).
While Livramento is also an attacking full-back, he is a stylistically different one. He is averaging only 1.6 progressive passes per game, though this, like all of his statistics, is affected by how often he has played at left-back. The 21-year-old’s greatest strength is his ability to drive forward with possession. His average carry distance of six metres is behind only Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams among Premier League full-backs this season.
The map below shows Livramento’s forward carries of 10 yards or more this season and, down both flanks, he has displayed his capacity to move possession upfield and dribble into the penalty area.
Of course, it is more difficult to dribble the ball forward as often as Trippier can pass it, so Livramento will be required to do both. Yet he has already shown how dangerous he can be from right-back, providing a man-of-the-match display in the 3-0 Carabao Cup win away to Manchester United in November, when his run forward and weighted pass laid on Miguel Almiron’s opener.
Howe hoped that Livramento would be receptive to learning from Trippier and the pair have developed an almost master-and-apprentice-like relationship.
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Livramento has taken every opportunity to ask Trippier for advice and has observed closely how Newcastle’s vice-captain operates. In return, Trippier — despite being taken aback by just how accomplished the young newcomer already is — has provided advice, taking Livramento aside to offer tips while also directing him from the sidelines when he has been absent. He is expected to do likewise over the next couple of matches as that injury heals.
Trippier knows that Livramento is Newcastle’s future but how soon he becomes their starting right-back remains unclear. Bayern attempted to prise Trippier away in January and, while Howe and the club’s ownership blocked that mid-season move, he will turn 34 in September and currently has just over a year left on his contract.
Ideally, Newcastle would like to retain a player who has been their standard-bearer post-takeover, but a summer exit is not entirely out of the question.
Livramento’s performances alone will not determine Trippier’s destiny but, should he grasp his opportunity at right-back, then a changing of the guard may arrive sooner than anticipated.
GO DEEPER
Kieran Trippier on his 'crazy' December and Newcastle's 'rollercoaster' season
(Top photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images)