Chelsea are in talks to re-sign Tino Livramento from Southampton (Getty)
Chelsea have made an approach to re-sign Tino Livramento from Southampton, according to reports.
Livramento was sold to Southampton in an £5 million deal in 2021, although Chelsea included a £50m buyback option which became active this year.
Newcastle United have already expressed an interest in signing the 20-year-old defender this summer but their initial offer of £12m and their improved bid of £21m have both been rejected.
According to MailOnline, Southampton are holding out for a £38m fee for Livramento and Chelsea have now held discussions over a move for their former right-back.
The report claims that as part of the deal, Chelsea would allow Southampton to keep Livramento on loan for their upcoming season in the Championship.
Tino Livramento is already back in pre-season training with Southampton (Getty)
Livramento had not made a first-team appearance for Chelsea before joining Southampton but was highly rated in their academy.
After his move to St Mary’s, Livramento quickly became one of Southampton’s standout performers before he suffered an ACL injury in April last year which kept him on the sidelines for 13 months.
He made his return as a late substitute in Southampton’s final two Premier League games last season.
Speaking about Chelsea’s decision to sell Livramento, former manager Thomas Tuchel said: ‘Yes of course he was highly-rated, we did everything to keep him here, to show him his future and his possibilities to compete for a position in our team
‘He decided to go, that was his decision and you sometimes have to accept. There are not hard feelings because we can show him possibilities and then it is on the player.
‘He was of course competing with Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta on the right wing-back position. I think it was an ideal position to fight because the group wasn’t too big.
‘There was a big chance for him to make it all the way. He decided to go and it’s fair enough, we wish him all the best.
‘We saw the potential, he decided to go another way and fight for a place at Southampton.’
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A surprise move by Chelsea.