Tino Livramento has been thrown straight back into the deep end at Newcastle United and Eddie Howe believes he is flourishing.
Following a knee injury sustained at the start of October, Livramento has played in almost every minute of every game since his comeback.
Of the 360 minutes Newcastle United have played since he returned against Manchester City, Livramento has appeared in 330 of them.
Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall need help!
Injuries to Emil Krafth and Kieran Trippier leave Howe light at right-back, meaning Livramento doesn’t have an adequate back-up at Newcastle.
Given the relentless fixture schedule ahead, it puts the 23-year-old in a very difficult situation, particularly after only just returning from injury.
Thankfully, Howe believes he’s handling it well.
Eddie Howe says Tino Livramento is doing well in tough circumstances
Considering the transformative impact Livramento has on Newcastle’s style of play (as well as Lewis Hall), reporters were keen to ask Howe about his full-backs.
The Newcastle United manager believes Livramento is dealing with having to carry most of the burden very well indeed.
“Tino’s okay, I think,” said Howe in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Burnley.
“He’s done really well. As you say, [it has] been tough for him because he’s straight back in and playing a lot of minutes, but we don’t have any other options in that position currently.”
Ross Wilson is already in talks with Tino Livramento and Sven Botman 😍
Do you see both signing new contracts? Be honest, as we've been burned before…
“Those discussions are ongoing. Some discussions are more difficult than others, but the desire would be to keep those players.”
Ross Wilson speaking about Tino Livramento and Sven Botman, via The Chronicle
Newcastle United eye new full-back to help Tino Livramento
Newcastle want to sign a new full-back in January but help could be on the way before that point.
Though Trippier and Krafth are both injured, Howe has confirmed that the pair could return later this month.
Clearly, neither player can offer what Livramento can. Still, simply having bodies available will be a big boost to both Howe and the full-back himself.
Newcastle desperately need to sign a new full-back, they cannot just rely on Livramento and Hall.
Clearly, there are other players in the squad on which to lean but none of them offer quite as much as the two England internationals.
In the four Premier League games the two have played together this season, Howe’s side are unbeaten.
If the club are really going to boast the kind of squad that compares with their positional rivals, they need to bolster what are clearly hugely important areas in Howe’s team.