It has been just over a year since Tino Livramento was carried off in the away fixture at Brighton on the 24th April last year, but after returning to first team training a few weeks ago and an outing in the B team Ruben Selles had admitted his return is imminent.

There hasn't been much good news around St Mary's this season, but there is a little bit of hope this week after Ruben Selles confirmed that Tino Livramento is likely to play some part in the finale to the season as Saints look to pull off an unlikely Great Escape.

Speaking to the Daily Echo ahead of the vital home game against Bournemouth the Saints manager had this to say,

“He is an important part of the club, he was here before I arrived and unfortunately I did not have the chance to coach him because he was not available,”

“But he is important and he will be important, I think he has some of the personal values and football abilities that are perfect for Southampton Football Club."

“I am looking forward for him to be back and hopefully during this season he can play in the last five or six games”

Selles also commented on the youngsters recent return to action with the B Team.

“I enjoyed that game, I think the whole team did a good job and especially in the second half. Tino played the first half and it was a difficult game in the very beginning, very physical,”

“There was a couple of challenges he needed to go through and he responded well, extremely well I must say. He’s getting better and better.

“However, we should not forget it is one year out of football and every step is very important for us. When he is ready to play he will step in"

That is music to the ears of Saints fans who took instantly to the new arrival from Chelsea after his debut at Everton on the opening day of last season.

Livramento had this to say

"I’m not going to say I don’t want to play before the end of the season as I feel that’s easily achievable for me, I feel strong and ready for whatever the club throws at me"

The likelihood though is that Tino will not be thrown in at the deep end just yet, I would expect him to feature on the bench, if not against Bournemouth then at Newcastle, just his appearance there would be a boost to not only his team mates but the fans also.

However how either game is going will direct whether he will get on th,e pitch or otherwise.

It seems that after a month or so of training with the first team and that outing with the B Team two weeks ago, he is now on the verge of a return to the first team, but he will be used sparingly at first, perhaps the result against Bournemouth will play a big part in when he will return, if Saints can beat the Cherries then having Tino back will be a big boost as we head into the final straight of the season.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 15:03 - Apr 26 Tino has to return " sometime ."..and there is no point in waiting until " all is lost " before giving him a little game time to show up in the remaining Prem. matches. I think most of us give credit to KWP for his performances, but he would be one of the first to look for a move - if we go down. He's way too good for the Championship. In the worst case scenario, we also have James Bree (who not only rated by Nathan Jones) but also regarded as one of the better defenders in the Championship, and was a bargain at 500K, and really can DAJFU at the lower level.

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