Crucial terms of Livramento deal with Chelsea are brilliant for Southampton

Southampton look to have pulled off a remarkable piece of business in signing Tino Livramento after crucial terms of the agreed deal with Chelsea were revealed.

According to an informative report from the Athletic’s Dan Sheldon, Saints will not pay Chelsea a penny of the agreed £5m transfer fee until next summer and Chelsea’s buyback clause does not come into existence until 2023.

For Saints, these terms are absolutely huge. They have effectively signed one of the most talented young players in England and have him for free whilst he adjusts to the club and the Premier League.

They are also set to make a profit of around £33m should he be sold back to Chelsea, although his early form for Saints will surely see competition for his signature if he gets to the stage of moving on.

Southampton’s different approach as they attempt to get back to development

A lot has been made in recent times about how Saints’ academy has struggled to produce first-team quality players. Their revamped setup under Matt Crocker’s guidance will take a while to turn things around again, but the club look to have taken other steps to try and fill gaps in the meantime.

They have signed players from the likes of Chelsea who will not get chances to play Premier League football and cleared first-team pathway for them. In effect, they are developing other clubs’ players until they get their own youth system back up and running to full potential.

Saints can expect to have Livramento for a relatively small part of his career given that he is a huge talent but these next two to three seasons will actually be the most important of his career.

The terms revealed by the Athletic will help to keep him at St Mary’s and keep the situation settled for a while though and this is a huge positive for the club and their player.