Keith Downie has revealed that Kieran Trippier told him off camera he’s annoyed by what people continue to say about him and his reasons for joining Newcastle United.
Friday has marked the one-year anniversary of Newcastle’s takeover by PIF which freed them from the shackles of Mike Ashley who had bled the club dry for a decade and the owners wasted no time improving the club when January came around.
This is because they managed to very quickly secure the services of La Liga winner and England international Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid, despite being engulfed in a relegation battle at the time.
Downie though has now claimed on the NUFC 360 YouTube channel Trippier is annoyed behind the scenes about how people keep claiming he joined the Magpies just for the money.
(52:55) “I did an interview with Trippier a couple of weeks ago actually and I had a chat with him off camera afterwards and I think he’s a bit frustrated that people say he came for the money, he says that he’s actually getting less money than he was at Atletico Madrid, he just wanted to come back to England and he wanted to come back to the north of the country.
“I think for a guy, an international player to come to Newcastle who were bottom of the table without a win all season, they might have even had one win at that point I can’t remember, you guys will correct me, everything kind of merges into one now when I think back to that spell.
Has Trippier been PIF's best signing?
Yes!
No!
“For him to come to a team who were mired in a relegation battle and be the first name there, it wasn’t like Newcastle had already signed Chris Wood and Dan Burn and then Trippier come in, he was literally the first name to arrive and I think the business as well to sign him for as little as £12 million for an England international who you can see how much he brings to the team, I think that is the best signing they’ve made.”
TIF Thoughts on Trippier’s time at Newcastle…
Some Newcastle fans may still have to pinch themselves when it comes to seeing Trippier turning out in the famous black and white and also being their captain this season, given his pedigree and achievements within the game.
Trippier has so far started every league game for Newcastle this season and played 90 minutes in all of them apart from the club’s demolition of Fulham last weekend, but that even highlighted his importance as they conceded when he was subbed off.
It’s no surprise that Trippier is getting annoyed by what some people are saying in the media about him joining Newcastle for the money given their owner’s wealth, but if it’s true what he says that he’s getting paid less than he was out in Spain, that will only endear him to the Newcastle fans even more.