SOUTHAMPTON boss Russell Martin is adamant he does not want to lose Tino Livramento this summer despite ongoing Newcastle United interest in the full-back.

Newcastle officials held talks over a possible move for Livramento earlier this summer, but were unable to agree a deal with the hierarchy at St Mary’s.

The Magpies value the defender at around £15m, but Southampton were demanding around double that for the 20-year-old, who joined the Saints from Chelsea two summers ago.

With Eddie Howe keen to add another full-back option to his squad this summer, Newcastle’s recruitment team continue to monitor Livramento’s situation. They also have an interest in the youngster’s team-mate, Kyle Walker-Peters, but Livramento is regarded as the preferred option if an acceptable deal can be agreed.

At the moment, that still appears to be some way off, and while Martin accepts that every member of his squad has their price following last season’s relegation, he is hoping Livramento will remain on the south coast to play a prominent role in next term’s campaign in the Championship.

Martin has been experimenting with Livramento in a number of different positions during Southampton’s early pre-season matches – at the weekend, the full-back played in a ‘Trent Alexander-Arnold-style’ central-midfield role in a 1-1 draw with Turkish side Goztepe – and the Siants boss will be pushing those above him to keep rebuffing Newcastle’s advances.

“It’s about his (Livramento) understanding of where he needs to be on the pitch for us and why,” said Martin, when asked about the defender’s new role at the weekend in an interview with the Daily Echo. “He won’t do it in every single game, there will be variants and different details.

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“I think he is getting used to it though, and I think he enjoys how much of the ball he gets. He will create a lot for us from there.

“He will still be able to get on the outside and do what he has done best. He is a really exciting player to work with, a real talent, and I’m enjoying working with him. Hopefully, it will stay that way.”

On the opposite side of the back four, Newcastle continue to hold a strong interest in Kieran Tierney, although a deal for the Arsenal left-back remains difficult to pull off.

Ideally, Mikel Arteta would like to keep Tierney as part of the Arsenal squad next season, with the Scotland international providing valuable cover and competition for first-choice left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Whether Tierney is happy to continue as a second-choice option remains to be seen, but with his former club, Celtic, also interested in signing him, it has been suggested north of the border that the 26-year-old could find the emotional pull of a return to his former club, who he supported as a child, hard to resist.

While Celtic would struggle to match a Newcastle offer for Tierney, the existence of a sell-on clause as part of the deal that initially took the defender from Parkhead to the Emirates means there is a chance the Scottish champions could still put together a financial package that would be acceptable to the Arsenal board.