The England international expressed his desire to return to England and clinched a move to the Magpies in the January transfer window.
Trippier had a couple of family reasons for why he needed to go back to England
Kieran Trippier has explained the reasons behind his decision to part ways with Atletico Madrid and join Newcastle United, just a few months after winning the LaLiga title with Los Rojiblancos. The England international expressed his desire to return to England and clinched a move to the Magpies in the January transfer window. “I had lots of conversations with the manager Diego Simeone and behind the scenes with the Atletico president Enrique Cerezo,” Trippier told Newcastle legend Alan Shearer in an interview.
“They made it clear they didn’t want me to go, but I had a couple of family reasons for why I needed to come back. I wanted to come back to the north, and up north, there was only Newcastle interested. But I know the manager Eddie Howe, and I’ve worked with him before at Burnley, and I had good chats with him about the project and what could happen.”
Kieran went on to hail Diego Simeone
“I thought that maybe I could tempt other players to come here, too; that if I’ve joined Newcastle, maybe it shows we can get out of the relegation zone. It’s going to be difficult, but I’m up for it. It’s perfect timing for my family and me.” Trippier went on to hail Diego Simeone, and he revealed that there were people who advised him against joining Atletico Madrid back in 2019. “He’s hard to explain, but when you see him on the touchline, that’s how he is in every training session, every passing drill,” Trippier explained.
“He’s just relentless. He’d work me for an hour and a half after training doing one-v-ones, showing me clips from my time at Tottenham, saying I should be doing this or that. He helped me such a lot. He got me into positions I never thought I’d be in as a footballer.”
“A lot of people were saying that Atletico was the wrong decision for me and stuff like ‘he won’t get past the halfway line in a Simeone team’, but I didn’t really think about that. A couple of European teams had come in for me, and I was close to joining Napoli at the time, but when Atletico Madrid came in, I thought, ‘I’ll have a bit of that’. I didn’t know the language, but I think I can adapt to any situation.” Trippier also revealed that Simeone is learning English and expressed his desire to see him coach a Premier League side in the future. “I’d love to see him working in England,” declared Trippier.