Kieran Trippier
Flickr photo by xiquinhosilva shared under a Creative Commons (BY 2.0) license.

The rise and rise of England’s Kieran Trippier

Ahmed Shah·
Premier League
·4 Comments·

Seasonal fans tuning in just to watch the World Cup may have been surprised to see who was stepping up to take an England free-kick in the 5th minute of the World Cup semi-final. It was Kieran Trippier. For the hardcore fans of the Premier League, however, it was anything but a surprise.

Coming in from Burnley in 2015, Kieran Trippier was primarily seen as a backup to long-term first-choice right-back, Kyle Walker, at Tottenham. However, the opportunity arose for Trippier once Walker moved to Manchester City. A hard-working, tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender, Trippier hasn’t looked back since.

Bury-born Trippier came through the ranks at Manchester City but a lack of first-team opportunities among City’s multitude of foreign stars forced him to leave Manchester in 2010. The Englishman rose to prominence thanks to years of consistent performances in the Championship for Barnsley and Burnley, getting named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year in 2013 and 2014 before winning promotion in the latter year with Burnley.

Burnley’s number 2 experienced a roller-coaster first season in the Premier League, playing all 38 games of the league season, winning praise for his individual performances but it wasn’t enough for his side as the Clarets went straight back down to the Championship. His performances did not go unnoticed however as Champions League hopefuls Tottenham snapped him up for a mere £4.5m (!!!) 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.

Trippier was eased into the Spurs setup by manager Mauricio Pochettino, not making a single league start before Christmas in his first season. However, he did feature in every minute of Spurs’ Europa League run in 2015/16, as they got knocked out in the round of 16 by Borussia Dortmund. The defender had to be patient and wait for his chances, gaining vital European experience in the process by featuring heavily in Europa and Champions League games.

With Kyle Walker’s move to City, and after having earned the faith of boss Pochettino, Trippier took the final plunge and made the right-back spot his own in the past season, keeping out summer signing Serge Aurier from Paris-Saint Germain on many occasions. He particularly impressed against reigning, defending, and eventual winners, Real Madrid in the 2017/18 Champions League group stages – making one goal and being a thorn in Madrid’s side all evening.

Trippier inked a new five-year deal with Spurs last summer which means that, with his market value now a staggering £27 million, 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.