In an interview with The Athletic, Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier spoke about his time at Atlético Madrid.
On moving to Atlético
“A lot of people were saying that Atlético was the wrong decision for me and, ‘He won’t get past the halfway line in a Simeone team’ but I didn’t really think about that. A couple of European teams had come in for me and I was close to joining Napoli at the time but when Madrid came in, I thought, ‘I’ll have a bit of that’. I didn’t know the language, but I think I can adapt to any situation.”
On leaving Atlético Madrid
“I had lots of conversations with the manager [Diego Simeone] and behind the scenes with the Atlético president. They made it clear they didn’t want me to go, but I had a couple of family reasons for why I needed to come back.
“After the Euros, there was really strong interest. I’ve got to be careful what I say because I don’t want to get into trouble, but yeah, there was interest. We had conversations, but Atlético Madrid just wanted my release clause and it was a lot of money for a 30-year-old, so I understand why Man United didn’t do that. There were other clubs interested…”
