Kieran Trippier says he wanted Howe to sign him before he even got the Newcastle job

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Kieran Trippier has now said that he planted the seed for Eddie Howe to sign him before he’d even got the job at Newcastle United.

Newcastle captain Kieran Trippier gave a brilliant interview on the High Performance Podcast, during which he talked about how he ended up in the famous black and white.

Trippier made a £12million switch from La Liga Champions, Atletico Madrid to relegation threatened Newcastle in January 2021. It was Eddie Howe‘s first transfer window as Newcastle boss and nobody could believe that they’d managed to sign someone of Trippier’s quality for so little. Especially given their league position.

Trippier planted the seed for a move before Howe even had a job

However, what we now know is that this move had been months in the making.

Since he left Bournemouth, Eddie Howe took some time out to study the game more, visiting various training grounds around the world, one of which was Atletico Madrid where he met up with Kieran Trippier, some 12 years after he’d managed him at Burnley.

Trippier was starting to get itchy feet and wanting to move back to England and he issued Howe a come and get me plea, despite the fact that he was currently out of work.

Jake Humphrey asked Trippier how Eddie Howe sold him on signing for Newcastle, all things considered, but Trippier said: “He didn’t have to say anything to sell it to me. He came out to Madrid to watch me train in October time, before he knew he was going to get this job. I was having a few words with him and I was trying to plant the seed saying ‘If you ever get a job in England again I’ll come back’, and yeah he took over Newcastle.

“The change between him now and when I first had him 12 years ago is incredible.”

Trippier’s £12m move to Newcastle was the signing of the season

At just £12million, Kieran Trippier turned out to be one of, if not the signing of that Premier League season. The transformation following his arrival at Newcastle was incredible.

Obviously there were more factors than just Trippier. Eddie Howe himself has to take a large portion of that credit, as does Bruno Guimaraes who arrived in the same window. However it was Trippier’s leadership on and off the pitch that seemed to have such a huge impact.

I genuinely believe we wouldn’t be where we are now without Kieran Trippier he is one of the most ‘important‘ figures at Newcastle according to Paul Merson. I’m not going to disagree with him on this one. I’m so glad everything played out the way it did.