Chelsea spent 'several months' trying to convince Tino Livramento to stay, but will we see him back?

Chelsea have a buyback clause in the new Southampton man's contract

Buyback clauses are great right? But you know there is one major problem with them, they only work if the player agrees to it.

So it’s great to say we have buyback clauses on a number of these academy produced players that we have sold this summer, but that is only great if they want to come back, and who is to say that it is always a dead cert that they will?

You can spin that of course though, and if Chelsea go back after these players it will mean that they really want them and have a place for them in the team, like they did with Romelu Lukaku this summer.

And you can also look at that example positively, because he had no doubts at all about returning to Chelsea, he had a point to prove and unfinished business to complete. Lukaku wants to be here at Chelsea because it has always been his dream as a kid, and many of these players from our academy who have been sold this summer will have that same mindset.

One in particular who I genuinely believe will be coming back is Tino Livramento. I was shocked that he left due to the fact we were chasing Achraf Hakimi, a player of the exact profile of Livramento. But I totally understand why he left and his decision is already paying off at Southampton where he is playing regularly and already showing what he can do.

Chelsea wanted him to stay at the club badly though, they tried for ‘several months’ to convince him to sign a new contract at the club, according to a recent report from The Athletic.

But his mind was made up, and his decision immediately justified. He wanted to play football regularly right away, knowing he was good enough, and he absolutely is good enough to do it in the Premier League and he will continue to prove this.

Chelsea can buy him back from next summer I believe for a fee of between £30-£40m. This will be considered a bargain for a player who is going to nail down a spot in world football as one of the best highly specialised right wing backs around.

Let’s hope there is a spot for him and that he would jump at a return.

Simon Phillips