There are four striking words inked on Tino Livramento's right forearm: "Beauty in the struggle." These are lyrics taken from J.Cole's song 'Love Yourz', but they could just so easily have summed up Livramento's journey.
After all, this is a defender who bounced back from the first serious injury of his career to secure a move to Newcastle United little more than a year later. "When you're injured, it's tough," the 21-year-old told ChronicleLive. "It's a struggle and you've got to find something that keeps you going and that beauty for me was trying to prove to everyone that it was a horrendous injury, but I was still very young.
"I had not done anything in the game yet and it was just proving to myself that I could reach that level again as a starting full-back in the Premier League. I looked to my family as well in those low moments and they helped me out a lot." READ MORE: Newcastle make under the radar FFP move that could end up saving millions in transfer market READ MORE: Amanda Staveley date confirmed as Newcastle lose 'incredible' transfer assets Livramento had to wait 392 days to make his comeback after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while playing for Southampton against Brighton at the Amex in 2022.
It said a lot about Livramento's mental strength that the youngster returned to the scene of that horror injury to face the same opponent in his first game back. Newcastle had long tracked Livramento's progress by then. In fact, Eddie Howe, former sporting director Dan Ashworth and assistant head of recruitment Andy Howe had followed Livramento for years and senior figures behind the scenes felt Newcastle might not have been able to sign the right-back if he did not have such an extended spell on the sidelines.
ChronicleLive previously revealed that 'all the big teams' liked Livramento, who has had admirers at Liverpool, Spurs and others over the years, but it was Newcastle who were prepared to pay a fee that could rise to £35m, knowing that the full-back could have been even more expensive in a year's time or, worse still, unattainable at another club. You can see why Newcastle were so persistent. Several bids were made over a three-month period last summer and former owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi even stepped in because the Magpies knew that this was a player who could one day succeed the influential Kieran Trippier.
Livramento has found a mentor rather than a rival in Trippier, who has repeatedly sung the praises of his 'unbelievable' team-mate, even pushing him forward to take the acclaim of the away end at Old Trafford back in November. Trippier rates Livramento so highly that he has backed the 21-year-old to not only replace him at club level but internationally, too, at some point. A different type of player with a different type of personality might have seen Livramento as a threat, but Trippier stressed he did not want to be 'selfish'.
The England international has instead tried to help Livramento and repeatedly thrown an arm around the right-back. Did that surprise Livramento at all? "I feel like it's just the environment of Newcastle as a whole," Livramento said. "Not just the club but the city.
Everyone wants to help each other. Everyone is really kind and loving in the city and I really appreciate what he's done for me and hopefully it can continue as well." Those final words jump off the page.
Trippier has entered the final year of his contract and it remains to be seen if the 33-year-old will still be a Newcastle player when the window shuts after he attracted interest from clubs in Saudi Arabia. Whether it is this summer or next, Trippier certainly won't be an easy player to replace - on and off the field - and only Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer laid on more assists than the set-piece specialist in the Premier League last season. Livramento, who is working his way back after an ankle issue at the end of last season, is a different sort of a full-back but the rapid Londoner has already offered some tantalising glimpses of what he can offer.
Who could forget the lung-busting runs that set up goals against Manchester United and PSG? Or when the former Chelsea winger went it alone to score his first goal for the club against Wolves? Clearly, this is a player with all the raw attributes to develop even further under Eddie Howe. "He's been amazing with what he has done for me," Livramento added. "He's brought me in and he's played me.
"I've really loved learning from him and his coaching staff. They have definitely developed me in such a short period of time working with him. I'm really looking forward to getting to know him more as a person and seeing how much he can elevate my game even more.
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