Beijing time today (7th) afternoon, Newcastle officially announced that the team signed 31-year-old England right-back Trippier from Atletico, which is the first signing after the Saudi Public Investment Fund acquired Newcastle United.
"Sell to Newcastle!" Its own family's supposedly multi-billion pound Saudi public investment fund bought Newcastle United in the Premier League, and fans of the team have been dreaming that their new boss can buy superstars to rebuild the team. Now that the first signing of the "new era" has finally arrived, although it is not a top big name, the 31-year-old right-back Trippier is also a star figure. The England international, who came from Atletico Madrid in La Liga, signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Newcastle for a transfer fee of around £12m with additional terms.
Judging from the "down payment amount", It seems that Trippier's transfer cannot be called a big deal, but it should not be underestimated by this english full-back. In fact, after the two clubs basically reached an agreement, Atletico still expressed considerable nostalgia. There were small fans who had put up signs on the sidelines in hopes of persuading Trippier to stay, and manager Simeone admitted at this week's press conference: "Trippier has been doing well, he has worked hard and he has been a very important part of us." ”
The manager's praise is not exaggerated. Trippier moved from Tottenham Hotspur to Atletico in the Premier League in 2019 and quickly adapted to the La Liga environment and became one of the main players of the team. In the next two and a half seasons, although the Englishman was suspended by the FA for an additional 10 weeks at the end of 2020 for violating betting rules, he still played 83 games for Atletico in all competitions, including 65 league games, and gave 10 assists in La Liga, which also contributed to Atletico's victory in La Liga last season.
According to Opta's statistics, since the start of the 2020-21 season, Trippier has participated in a total of 22 attacks with a final result of goals, ranking second among all La Liga full-backs in the same period, behind Barcelona's left-back Alva (28 times), which shows its significance to Atletico. In a sense, he can also be regarded as "the best right-back in La Liga".
However, because Trippier's contract is only one and a half years left, and the already old English full-backs want to return to Britain, Atletico can only endure the pain in the end. After the news of the former in Newcastle, the Manchester Evening News also criticized Manchester United for its lack of reinforcements, but after many scandals with Trippier, it still did not win the all-round right player.
As for Trippier's reasons for choosing Newcastle, the lucrative treatment is one aspect (he is said to have the highest weekly salary of 130,000 pounds a year at his new owner), and another is that he and the current Magpies manager Eddie Howe are old acquaintances. In 2011-12, Eddie Howe coached Burnley, who was in the Championship at the time, and Trippier was loaned from Manchester City to his side. It was also under the tutelage of Eddie Howe that Trippier, who was over 20 years old at the time, completely gained a foothold in the Championship and was bought out by Burnley in January 2012.
Now that the master and apprentice are reunited, the mentor of the year needs Trippier to show his talent and help himself. The latter's forward insertion, crosses and set-piece tackles are all premier League-class, giving Newcastle more opportunities to fly on the right. Meanwhile, Eddie Howe also hopes the England international's experience will help improve the team's defence. In the past 4 league games, Newcastle has drawn 1 and lost 3, conceding a total of 12 goals before scoring 2 goals, it can be said that there are big problems on both sides of the attack and defense.
With 19 rounds of the game, Newcastle has only scored 11 points, ranking second from the bottom in the Premier League. The arrival of Trippier may be a "life-saving straw", but a good right-back new signing is obviously far from enough, according to some British media, Newcastle's winter window plan is to introduce about 6 people.
Wen | Ray Hammer
Edit | Peppery Soup