Newcastle star responds as Man City plot outstanding swap deal | OneFootball

Newcastle United star Tino Livramento has discussed his future after it emerged Manchester City could try to sign him in a superb player-plus-cash deal.

Our transfer insider Fraser Fletcher revealed on Thursday that Man City are weighing up offering James Trafford as bait to increase their chances of luring Livramento away from Newcastle. Man City know the Magpies are eager to sign Trafford, having missed out on him over the summer.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have made an enquiry for the goalkeeper, but sources state that Newcastle are frontrunners to complete a loan-to-buy deal worth £25-30m (up to €34m / $39m).

Tino Livramento: The story so far

Newcastle have identified Trafford as the perfect replacement for current No 1 Nick Pope, and City are well aware of this.

City view Livramento as the ideal right-back to improve their squad. They have been on the lookout for such a player since Kyle Walker left in January.

However, even with Trafford being offered, City will have to spend a huge sum to sign Livramento, as Newcastle are determined to keep the England star. Plus, it does not look like Livramento will push for a move away from St James’ Park anytime soon.

Star makes contract admission

When asked about the possibility of a new contract on Tyneside, he replied (via the Shields Gazette): “That’s nothing that I’m in control of. I leave that to my dad, to my agent.

“For me, I’ve been out for seven weeks. I’ve been working really hard to come back and obviously help the team.

“I’m very happy with how I’ve played. That’s my focus, staying where I’m at now. That’s always been my focus, helping the team as much as I can.”

Coincidentally, Livramento put in a great performance on Saturday as Newcastle beat City 2-1 at home. The stats from the game suggest City’s interest in the 23-year-old is very much justified.

Having returned from a knee injury to start against Pep Guardiola’s side, Livramento added: “Very happy to be back playing. It’s a great result for the team, for the city.

City win could ‘kick start’ Newcastle season

“A lot of fans have been waiting for our season to kick start and I feel like this could be the turning point.

“We’ve worked really hard [in training]. We had three or four really tough sessions, just working on things that the manager thought that we weren’t doing in games. It definitely helped us, the international break, to fix a few things.

“When all the internationals come back as well, you know the quality that we have.

“There wasn’t too much change coming into the game. We obviously rely on our fans a lot when we play at home. The energy that they bring, coming into the game very positive and obviously we got the result we wanted.”

Fabrizio Romano has previously confirmed City’s interest in snaring Livramento. The Cityzens made an approach in the summer but were warned off due to Newcastle’s sky-high price tag, understood to be around £80m (€91m / $105m).

Knowing January will be too difficult for negotiations to succeed, City will likely re-try their luck at the end of the season.

But City do have other options in case Livramento ultimately proves too expensive. Feyenoord’s 19-year-old rising star Givairo Read is also being monitored ahead of future talks.