THERE was no Newcastle rush with Tino Livramento.

Having signed the defender in the summer, Eddie Howe and his coaching team were happy to play the long game with the 20-year-old full-back, who only returned to the Southampton first team at the very end of last season after a long spell on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.

The priority for the former Chelsea youngster has been training and making sure he fully adapts to the demands of Howe and the playing ways of the Magpies. But he didn't sign to be a spectator and Howe stressed to the full-back that when his opportunity arose, he had to take it. Livramento did exactly that against Manchester City on Wednesday night.

The summer recruit was superb at right-back, shackling City's Jack Grealish and winning the Man of the Match award on Sky Sports. Howe said it was a reward for his fine work behind the scenes.

"He's been very, very good. I don't think you can come in and give that performance if you're not training well and applying yourself to your work," said Newcastle's head coach.

"He's understood his position. He's come back from a long injury so you have to take that into account. This period for him where he's learning how the team plays is a really good moment for you if you look at it that way. Then when you get your chance you have to take it, he's done that today."

READ MORE:

Taking into account the excellence, consistency and importance of Kieran Trippier, the decision to spend a significant chunk of the summer budget on another right-back raised a few eyebrows, but Howe wants competition in every area of the pitch and after Southampton's relegation, Newcastle didn't want to pass up the opportunity to sign a young player the club's coaches and recruitment team rate so highly.

Wednesday's game was Livramento's first start after two cameos from the bench in the league against Manchester City and Sheffield United, but his display - defensively and going forward - in the midweek cup success highlighted why Newcastle were so keen to sign the full-back.

Howe said: “I thought he did really well. It was a tough game against Jack Grealish, who is an unbelievable player and Tino, I think, defended really, really well against him, one v one a lot of the time.

“I thought he was really aggressive and front-foot, but he dealt with him really well. The main strength of his game historically has been his attacking intent and his ability to run with the ball, and we saw flashes of that in the second half. I thought it was a really good debut for him."