Sky Sports journalist Ben Grounds has been sharing his thoughts on Southampton right-back Tino Livramento.
This comes after Grounds made an appearance on a recent episode of The Sky Sports Football Podcast, where he spoke about a variety of subjects concerning a range of clubs in the Premier League.
On the topic of Southampton, their season so far and their current squad options ahead of the upcoming Premier League clash against Wolves, Grounds had this to say about Livramento, in particular.
He said: “[Ralph Hasenhuttl has] found a way of getting arguably their best defender of last season, Kyle Walker-Peters, into the side moved into left-back because Tino Livramento has been one of the finds of the season so far and with this game, in particular, I’m really looking forward to seeing how he fares with Adama Traore, because towards the end of that [Manchester] City game, Hasenhuttl kind of protected him.
“He got a booking for a bit of a rash challenge against [Raheem] Sterling and City were starting to turn the screw and it was, in many ways, just how important Livramento has been for them so far this season – not just defensively, but getting forward – that Hasenhuttl decided to protect him, brought him off for the final few minutes so that he is available, essentially, for what should be a very exciting battle with Traore down one of those flanks.”
TIF Thoughts on Ben Grounds’ comments on Livramento…
Taking into account how Livramento has started all five of Southampton’s Premier League games so far this season, this shows just how much faith Hasenhuttl has in the 18-year-old.
Also, the fact that the Saints boss substituted the teenager off after he picked up a yellow card during their 0-0 draw against Manchester City, as Grounds mentioned, shows that Hasenhuttl thinks Livramento will be a vital figure for them against Wolves and didn’t want to risk him getting a potential ban if he stayed on against the champions.
Have you been impressed with Livramento so far this season?
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Moving forward, if Livramento can keep playing well for the Saints on a consistent basis, we feel that he could well be seen as one of the best buys of the season for such a low price from Chelsea.
In other news: ‘Headache for Ralph’ – Dan Sheldon drops update on Saints youngster