Kieran Trippier has been monumental for Newcastle United this season and his efforts have landed him with the honour of being rated Europe’s best defender.
That is according to WhoScored.com who have released their Starting XI of the best players from Europe’s top five leagues according to their average ratings.
WhoScored is a stats tracking site who concentrate on Europe’s top five leagues – the Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga. They keep stats on every player in those leagues and create a match rating, much like most outlets do after a game.
Kieran Trippier was the highest rated defender in Europe this season
They then average those scores over a select period and display a graphic showing the best starting XI from that period. They have just released their team of the season via Twitter today and on it is Newcastle‘s right back Kieran Trippier.
If you look at the scores across the defence you’ll notice that Trippier earned the highest rating of any defender across the top five leagues in Europe which is a phenomenal statistic.
It shows why Trippier was in the running for Premier League Player of the Season and why he has been lauded by critics, pundits, players and managers alike. England boss Gareth Southgate said Trippier had been ‘outstanding‘ this season, and you won’t hear anything different from Newcastle fans.
Trippier still has plenty more to give
We bagged ourselves an absolute bargain when we picked him up from Atletico Madrid for just £12million in January 2022. He immediately made us a better team, his leadership qualities are beyond question.
Despite being the wrong side of 30, Trippier still looks sharp as a tack and has plenty in the tank to keep going for another couple of years at least.
I wonder how many of our lads we can get into that team next season.
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