Manchester City have identified Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento as one of four right-back transfer targets this summer, according to a report.
The dethroned champions have been without a natural right-back since sanctioning Kyle Walker’s loan exit to AC Milan during the January transfer window and Pep Guardiola made little secret of his recruitment priority. “We will need a new full-back in the summer,” the City boss huffed earlier this year. “Obviously.”
Matheus Nunes has been awkwardly shoehorned into the right-back role for much of the second half of the season – thanks in part to Guardiola’s belief that he is “not clever enough” to play in midfield. Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji have also moonlighted in that position, but Livramento provides a natural, Premier League-proven option.
Fabrizio Romano reports that the jet-heeled right-back is part of a “four-man shortlist” of potential defensive recruits. City are said to be targeting a new arrival before this summer’s Club World Cup as Walker’s chances of permanently leaving the Sky Blues this summer are described as “100%”.
Romano doesn’t name the other members of the shortlist, although Juventus are thought to possess at least two of them. Reports of an agreement between City and Juve’s young right-back Nicolo Savona have gathered steam in recent weeks. The 22-year-old earned his first senior Italy call-up in November after enjoying a run in Juve’s first team in positions all across the back four.
Savona’s teammate Andrea Cambiaso is another long-term target for City. The versatile Italian, comfortable on both flanks, was thought to be the subject of a €65m (£54.7m) bid from Guardiola’s side during the January window which never came to anything.
There was even spurious claims that City could hijack Real Madrid’s deal to snap up Trent Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer this summer, but the Englishman is expected to complete his move to Spain in the coming weeks.
Any deal carried out at the Etihad will have to adhere to a strict budget. Despite continuing their extensive squad overhaul, City are thought to be planning to cut their wage bill.
