Southampton's Tino Livramento: 'I made the right decision to leave Chelsea'

By Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter | 21 April 2022

Southampton right-back Valentino Livramento insists that he made the "right decision" to leave Chelsea and move to St Mary's last summer.

Livramento joined Chelsea's academy at the age of seven and in the 2020-21 season he was voted as the club's academy Player of the Year following an impressive campaign in the Premier League 2.

However, the 19-year-old was unable to break into the senior team and was eventually sounded out by Southampton who recruited the defender for around £5m in August last year.

Livramento has since been a first-team regular for Ralph Hasenhuttl's side and the Englishman believes that he was right to move to the Saints to further his career.

"You look back and I didn't have many changes through the academy, I stayed at Chelsea and signed every contract that they gave me," Livramento told Hampshire Live.

"Taking that step to decide to leave was massive, but it was well thought out, I took a lot of time and a lot of reasoning. At the end of the day, I just wanted to play first-team football consistently.

"I didn't realise I would play so much so early on, but I realised I would probably get more opportunities than I maybe would have got at Chelsea. It was the right decision for me, I felt.

"Maybe not everyone would have done what I did, and I am not saying what I did would work for everyone, but I looked at it for myself and ultimately, it was what I felt was right for me."

Livramento, who has received three England Under-21 caps since the start of this season, has made 30 appearances for Southampton across all competitions, scoring once and providing two assists.