Explaining Tino Livramento’s sliding sell-on fee: How much might Newcastle need to pay?
https://theathletic.com/4644187/2023/06/27/tino-livramento-newcastle-southampton-Chelsea-fee-explained/
On Monday evening, The Athletic reported that Newcastle United were in talks with Southampton over a move for Tino Livramento.
The 20-year-old right-back is highly-rated but missed almost all of last season after suffering an ACL tear in April 2022.
It is not set to be an easy transaction, with Chelsea, his previous club, owed a hefty sell-on fee in any deal — meaning Southampton require a large sum to ensure a sizeable profit for themselves. Brighton & Hove Albion also retain an interest.
These are the ins and outs of the potential move.
So what’s the context here?
Livramento joined Southampton from Chelsea ahead of the 2021-22 season. Then 19, he had never made a senior appearance for Chelsea despite winning the club’s academy player of the year award earlier that summer, seeing his progression to the first team blocked by Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Premier League clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Everton and Brighton had all shown interest, with some making offers, while he also attracted attention from German side RB Leipzig and Monaco of France’s Ligue 1.
Chelsea inserted buy-back and sell-on clauses into the deal that took Livramento to the south coast — more on those later.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl immediately put the youngster into his starting XI, displacing Kyle Walker-Peters, with the now England international forced to switch sides to play at left-back.
Livramento stood out and was voted man of the match against Manchester United in just his second senior game. An attacking right-back, he likes to use his dribbling ability and physicality to progress the ball upfield before getting to the byline and crossing.
He made 25 Premier League starts in that debut season, scoring once and managing two assists. However, his campaign ended in the April when he tore his left ACL in an innocuous clash with Brighton midfielder Enock Mwepu. It was only on May 21 this year that he made his return for Southampton — 392 days after his last appearance for the club, also away to Brighton.
Southampton’s relegation means interest in their players is now high — including the likes of midfielders James Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia — but they are charging a premium for them as they look to return to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Livramento is still getting back up to speed after more than a year out with that initial ACL injury and subsequent hamstring issues that further delayed his comeback. Still only 20, the focus had been to get a defender with 25 England age-group caps playing regularly for the first team again having been appreciative of the work done by Southampton’s medical staff in getting him back on the pitch.
Is right-back a priority position for Newcastle?
Not particularly. They have been in the market for a starting-quality left-back but looked to have addressed their long-term succession planning at right-back by signing 21-year-old Harrison Ashby from West Ham United in January.
However, the club have been opportunistic in recent windows — such as exploiting Everton’s financial issues to sign long-term target Anthony Gordon that same month, a move that had initially been circled for this summer.
With Champions League football secured for next season, there is a recognition that Kieran Trippier, who turns 33 in September, cannot play every game in the Premier League and Europe. Javier Manquillo is not part of head coach Eddie Howe’s long-term plans, Emil Krafth is recovering from his own ACL injury suffered last August and Ashby only played six minutes of Premier League football more than a year ago, so bringing in further reinforcements makes sense — if it was the right player.
Sporting director Dan Ashworth had been keen to sign Livramento while he was in the same job at Brighton — who are interested in the player again now.
Livramento’s ceiling is seen as extremely high — a player who can both contribute to his new club immediately and still develop in the future. The stumbling block, though, is the fee…
Right, so how does this sell-on fee work?
It is understood Chelsea’s sell-on clause relates to any profit made by Southampton from selling Livramento. They paid £4million for him — effectively making that amount exempt from the clause. Chelsea’s profit-share then exists on a sliding scale — the higher the total price, the larger slice of it they receive. Correspondingly, Southampton get a smaller percentage if they agree a bigger fee.
For example, should the agreed package be £30million ($38.2m), Southampton would keep around 60 per cent of that (about £18m) — but if it rose to £50m, they would make roughly £28m (in the region of 56 per cent).
What fees have been discussed so far?
Southampton are looking to make at least £25million-£30million from any deal, which values the total package at close to £50m. It is understood that when Newcastle enquired about Livramento’s availability, that was the amount they were quoted, with Southampton mindful of his form pre-injury.
Newcastle are not willing to spend that much on a non-priority position, especially given the €70m (£60m; $76.6m) they are about to spend on AC Milan and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali. However, they did submit a counter-offer of around £23m — just under half of Southampton’s asking price. The Championship club would receive roughly £15m if they accepted that bid.
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It is understood the clubs are still some way off an agreement, though there is optimism a deal can be reached. Newcastle are considering improving their offer, though they will not exceed a total outlay of £30million.
What about Chelsea’s buy-back?
Chelsea are still admirers of their former youth player and it is understood their buy-back clause kicks in for the first time this summer. That number is believed to be around £50million — but due to the sell-on clause, they would only end up needing to pay around £35million-£38million to get Livramento back.
Are Newcastle interested in any other Southampton players?
Livramento is perhaps a more unexpected Newcastle target among their squad, though he had been watched at St Mary’s by scouts after his comeback late last season.
Newcastle have also studied Walker-Peters, who would help fulfil their homegrown quota and can play both full-back positions, which makes him an attractive proposition for Premier League clubs in next season’s European competitions.
Walker-Peters, 26, is not as accomplished an attacker as Livramento but is extremely solid defensively, following the mould of Newcastle’s 31-year-old current first-choice left-back Dan Burn, who has played much of his career as a central defender.
Although Newcastle are still in the market for another midfielder — preferably a No 6 — Ward-Prowse and Lavia are not primary targets, especially given their likely cost. Lavia is also of interest to Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
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Tino Livramento has been in demand for years - he was destined for the top from an early age
