Kieran Trippier has backed young pretender Tino Livramento to establish himself as England’s right-back as he attempts to fend off his advances for both club and country.
Livramento, a £32million summer signing from Southampton, is likely to replace Trippier in Newcastle’s starting line-up for Monday night’s Premier League trip to Chelsea as the 33-year-old faces a spell on the sidelines with a minor calf injury.
However Trippier, who has been the standard-bearer for much of what the Magpies have achieved in the last two years, knows the 21-year-old is gunning for his places in both the Newcastle team and the England squad.
Eddie Howe on Tino Livramento:
"It has been a brilliant start to his Newcastle career, Tino has handled himself well, played ever so well. It goes without saying how good he is athletically and that showed with his goal against Wolves, showed his running ability and then his… pic.twitter.com/YfZTKaJmJn
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) March 8, 2024
He said: “Tino, for such a young guy, is unbelievable. I’ve had loads of talks with Tino, firstly to try to help him. I know he’s my position, but I don’t want to be selfish.
“He’ll be unbelievable for Newcastle in the future and an England right-back as well. That’s how highly I rate him.”
That is a view shared by Magpies head coach Eddie Howe, who has been hugely impressed by Livramento’s performances to date at left-back, right-back and in midfield, a process which continued last weekend when he scored a superb solo goal in a 3-0 victory over Wolves after replacing the injured Trippier.
Asked if the youngster’s challenge had to be to oust the former Burnley, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid man on both the domestic and international stages, Howe said: “Of course. If you ask Tino, that will be his aim and if you ask me, I’d want every player to feel the same way.
“If you’re not in the team, your aim and ambition should be to try to get into the team, to try to prove you’re better than the team-mate that you’re competing against.
“If you have that in your squad, I think you’ve got a healthy squad, you’ve got a good balance between being a good team-mate and fighting for your place.
“Tino has shown all those qualities this year. He has been learning and developing behind the scenes, he’s been no doubt picking things up off Kieran and I’ve enjoyed seeing them both battle against each other.”
Trippier will miss the trip to Chelsea and the FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City which follows it, as well as England’s friendly double-header against Brazil and Belgium as a result of the injury which has robbed him of the opportunity to atone for the error which cost his side a place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Asked what had been going through his head as he uncharacteristically allowed Mykhailo Mudryk to score a late equaliser 12 days after he had gifted Everton two goals, he said: “Do you know what? I don’t actually know.
“It was a strange one, really. I was just making a mistake and then making another mistake. I haven’t got any excuses, really.
“It’s just you make a mistake and you want to try even better and then because you’re trying so hard, you make another mistake, and it’s not me.”
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