Newcastle not willing to pay full price for ‘fantastic’ defender

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By all accounts Tino Livramento is very keen to join Newcastle United this summer but Southampton aren’t going to make it easy.

It has been suggested that Tino Livramento prefers a move to Newcastle over a return to Chelsea, but it’s the Blues who are adding a layer of complication to any potential move to the North East.

Inserted into Livramento’s contract at Southampton is a buy-back clause and a sell-on fee which both benefit Chelsea, and it’s the latter clause that’s causing problems for Newcastle.

Newcastle initially offered £15m for Livramento now Saints want £50m

When it was first revealed that Newcastle were chasing Livramento a £15million deal was mooted, but now it’s believed Southampton would be looking for more like £50million which is absolutely absurd.

The thinking is that would leave the Saints with a heft chunk of revenue left over after the sell-on fee was paid to Chelsea, but whether Newcastle will accept that excuse for such an eyewatering leap in value is very doubtful.

In fact, transfer specialist Dean Jones told Give Me Sport that it won’t happen, saying: “Newcastle wouldn’t even pay half of that, to be honest with you. They’re not looking at that sort of valuation around Livramento or anyone in that area of the pitch.”

I’m not sure what the sell-on percentage is, but given that his value has seemingly increased three-fold then it must be hefty.

We only paid £12million for Kieran Trippier and he is widely regarded as the best right-back in the Premier League. In fact, ESPN rated him second best in the World recently. Granted there’s a huge gap in their longevity, but it still seems crazy.

Right-back doesn’t feel like a priority this summer for Newcastle

The 20-year-old definitely has a big future in the game and has earned plenty of plaudits with Theo Walcott telling TalkSPORT in 2021: “He’s so strong with the ball and very clever and technically he is fantastic.”

The valuation might just be a ploy to try and keep Livramento at Southampton as new manager Russell Martin has said that his aim is to keep as many of his stars at Southampton to escape the Championship at the first time of asking.

Whatever the reality, the link isn’t going away so there could be some middle-ground to be discovered in these talks, although, as good as Livramento is, I don’t see right-back being that much of a priority for Newcastle so I’d not expect quick movement on this one.