Kieran Trippier reveals Simeone’s ‘blunt’ comment about his last season at Tottenham

Kieran Trippier has spoken about his decision to leave Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, admitting that Diego Simeone made it clear to him as soon as he arrived that he had to improve the defensive side of his game.

Kieran Trippier opens up on leaving Tottenham

Trippier spent four seasons at Spurs after joining the club from Burnley in the summer of 2015 and he developed into a top right-back during his time at the club, managing to break into the England set-up.

However, he had a significant drop-off in his final season at Spurs, with his defensive mistakes costing Mauricio Pochettino’s men on several occasions.

Trippier eventually joined Atletico Madrid for just £20m (BBC) where he improved his defensive game under the tutelage of Simeone, playing a valued part in the club’s title win in 2020-21.

The former Tottenham man has been one of the most consistent right-backs in the Premier League since joining Newcastle in 2022, and he has now admitted that the move to the Spanish capital helped him improve as a footballer.

Trippier had to improve defensively at Atletico

Speaking about his decision to leave Spurs, Trippier told The Overlap: “[I needed] a change. I had a talk with Pochettino and Daniel Levy at the time and I was not getting the answers I wanted, in the sense of whether I’m a part of the plans or not. But that’s fine, players and managers come and go, and it is about trying to find that next step.

“Atlético Madrid came in and I just said to the manager straight away that I wanted to sign for them. I was then in Madrid straight away and I have never looked back since, it was an unbelievable journey.

“When I went to Atlético Madrid people were saying it was the wrong move for me, saying I wouldn’t make it past the halfway line. Diego Simeone encouraged me to go forward as much as I could. He got me into some positions where I thought it was so simple.

“When I first went there, Simeone said, ‘I need to improve your defending’ – as blunt as that. I was a bit suspect [defending] in my last year at Tottenham, getting caught out, playing people on side and it’s all about fine margins. I just wanted the season to end [at Tottenham], I felt like I was getting suffocated because I wasn’t performing.

“Simeone worked with me for so many hours, just me and him on the training pitch after training, showing me clips of other players.

“With Simeone, if you break his trust that is it, you’re done. It is about being on time, respect for everybody else and on the pitch, you have to run. If you do not run for him, it doesn’t matter how much you are paid, you are gone. It is there for everyone to see, you have to run for him.

“He always used to put me up against players like Thomas Lemar or [Yannick] Carrasco, different types of wingers where Carrasco is someone who will chop you and Lemar is one of those who will just run in behind you. He was very clever in the players he would put me up against.

“I look back on it now and I think he did it on purpose to see how I would cope. He also used to work me on positioning, when to go forward, and when not to go forward. He was intelligent, and I learned so much from him.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Trippier’s defending in his last season at Tottenham did leave a lot to be desired and one can understand why Pochettino made the decision to offload him at the time.

However, looking back, there is no doubt that Spurs made an error by letting him go in 2019 as the England international might have enjoyed playing under the likes of Conte.

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