Kieran Trippier joined Spurs initially only as a back-up option at right-back in 2015. However, an opportunity arose for him once Kyle Walker for Manchester City. It was an opportunity he would seize with both hands as he is now a household name across the country. It is a story reminiscent of another former fan-favourite at Spurs, a three-time European Cup winner called Gareth Bale.
Kieran Trippier: The Next Gareth Bale?
Bury-born Trippier came through the ranks at Manchester City but a lack of first-team chances among City’s multitude of foreign stars forced him to leave Manchester in 2010. He rose to prominence thanks to years of consistent performances in the Championship for Barnsley and Burnley, being named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year in 2013 and 2014. Trippier also won promotion to the Premier League in the latter year with Burnley.
Burnley’s No.2 experienced a roller-coaster first season in the Premier League. Despite playing all 38 games of the league season and winning praise for his individual performances, Trippier and the Clarets went straight back down to the Championship. His performances did not go unnoticed as Champions League-hopefuls Tottenham snapped him up for a mere £4.5 million in the summer of 2015. Three seasons on and it looks to be one of the best bargains Spurs have made in their entire history.
Similarities
Gareth Bale was also once just a young full-back who Spurs had signed before being reinvented into an explosive winger. Admittedly, Trippier came to North London at a much older and mature age than Bale. But the similarities between the two do not end with them gaining fame during their respective times at Spurs.
Gareth Bale, signed from Southampton as a pacy left-back, was eased into the squad before impressing enough to be pushed further up the pitch by then-Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp. Bale’s most well-renowned outing in a Spurs shirt came at the San Siro where he virtually ended the career of Brazil international right-back Maicon, then considered to be one of the best full-backs in the world, as he scored a hat-trick against Inter Milan.
Both men have had to work immensely hard on their road to fame and while Kieran Trippier may still have a long way to go and, certainly, his trophy cabinet in no way compares to Bale’s, he has nevertheless shown the hunger required to keep going on and not be satisfied with just one good tournament performance. He may not have enough goal-scoring talent to warrant any golden boot claims in the near future but Trippier certainly possesses a certain type of dynamism that he shares his Tottenham predecessor. The current Spurs No.2, simply put, is a match-winner.
Road to Russia
Trippier, upon his arrival at White Hart Lane in 2015, was also eased into the Spurs setup by manager Mauricio Pochettino. He did not make a single league start before Christmas in his first season. Trippier was made to be patient for his chances as he gained vital European experience in the process, featuring in every minute of Spurs’ Europa League run in 2015/16, losing out in the Round of 16 to Borussia Dortmund.
With Kyle Walker’s move to City, and having earned the faith of boss Pochettino, Kieran Trippier took the final plunge and made the right-back spot his own in the last season. The former Burnley man kept out summer signing Serge Aurier from Paris-Saint Germain. He also particularly impressed against the defending and eventual winners of the Champions League last season, Real Madrid, in the group stages, scoring once and being a thorn in Madrid’s side all evening.
Trippier inked a new five-year deal with Spurs last summer which means it would take a mammoth offer from one of Europe’s elite to tempt England’s newest star on the right-wing, and free-kick hero, into leaving Tottenham.
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