Some players dream of spreading their wings, pushing their boundaries, trying something new. Kieran Trippier never thought of himself like that. He was apprehensive enough about moving to London at the age of 24. He never expected to end up playing for Atletico Madrid.

He certainly never imagined living somewhere like La Finca, the gated community where so many of the city’s superstar footballers make their home. It is a place full of manicured lawns, man-made lakes and a highly exclusive golf and spa resort. The biggest and most expensive villas tend to be snapped up by Real Madrid’s players. Trippier, like several of his Atletico colleagues, has settled for something a little more modest.

His England and former Tottenham Hotspur team-mates ask him, with a sense of intrigue, whether he is enjoying it.

“Loving it,” he tells The Athletic at the club’s training ground. “Great football, great lifestyle. Madrid is an amazing city, so much to do. I’ve come out of my comfort zone. I’m trying to learn the language. It’s harder than I expected, but I’m taking it day by day and I’m making progress.”

For a sense of what he means about his comfort zone, he tells a story of when he first decided to leave the family home in Summerseat, to the north of Manchester near Bury. “I moved just down the road,” he says. “Not even a minute away.

“One thing I always wanted to do is buy my mum and dad a house. But they’ve never wanted to move. My grandma lives there and there are uncles and aunties just up the street. It’s a little council estate and the whole street is full of relatives. I said they could have the house I had bought down the road, but they didn’t want to move. They’re comfortable where they are. So I ended up buying the house I grew I up in. It was a council house and it cost next to nothing because they’d been there so long!”

His parents still work, which is not always the case when a footballer strikes it rich, playing for big clubs such as Tottenham and Atletico, playing in the Champions League, playing for England. “Yes, my mum works in the Londis shop around the corner,” he says. “She walks there every morning, six in the morning, and opens up the shop. My dad does people’s driveways. Some players buy their parents a big house and say they don’t want them to work anymore. But my parents wanted to stay in the same house and they wanted to keep working. They’re comfortable. They’re happy.

“I get emotional when I think about everything they’ve done for me. I probably don’t even know half the stuff they went through, money-wise, back in the day. We didn’t have much money and I don’t know how they managed to put food on the table for me and my three brothers.

“When my brother Kelvin was at Oldham, I was training (at Manchester City) on Monday, Kelvin Tuesday, me Wednesday, Kelvin Thursday, Friday off, Kelvin played Saturday and I’d play Sunday. That went on for years and we didn’t have much money, and they were always working — my dad was away a lot — and I don’t know how they managed to ferry us around everywhere.

“So many people have helped me along my journey. My agent Greg (Wadsworth) and the guys at Pitch (the agency) have helped me so much with the move out here. Different managers have been brilliant. All of them have helped me in different ways. My parents and my brothers were shocked when I first told them I was moving out here, but every decision I’ve made in my career, they’ve been right behind me.”

The conversation moves on to managers and, while we will come to the contrasting figures of Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche, Gareth Southgate and Diego Simeone in due course, there is only one place to start.

Mauricio Pochettino had a huge influence on Trippier’s career, but this summer’s parting of the ways was awkward. In common with several other senior players at Tottenham, Trippier felt he was left in limbo at the end of last season, considered expendable as the club prepared to rebuild. The noises from within the club suggested he was unofficially for sale, but Pochettino, he suggests, was evasive on the matter until the deal with Atletico was concluded.

When he first agreed to this interview, Trippier was keen to avoid going over old ground where his departure from Tottenham was concerned. If anything, Pochettino’s dismissal last week, which saw him replaced by Jose Mourinho, has left him more willing to discuss his former manager.

“He gave me the opportunity to play at the highest level,” the full-back says. “He took me to Tottenham and I played Europa League, played Champions League, played so many games in the Premier League for them. He was a big reason why I got called up to the England squad because he was the one who gave me the opportunity to show I could play at the highest level. I’ve got full respect for him and for what he did to help me get to where I am now.”

Have you been in touch since he was sacked? “Yes, I sent him a message to tell him how much I appreciate everything he has done for me,” he says. “I couldn’t not text him. I’m not that type of person. He gave me the opportunity to play at the highest level. I’ve come on a long journey in my career and he was a big, big part of that, so I thanked him for everything he has done for me.

“I’ve got a lot of mates at Tottenham — players and staff. It wasn’t nice to see what they went through, not getting the results they wanted. It wasn’t nice to see them getting criticised. Now a new manager has come in and hopefully they’ll get the results they want and push further up the table, where they deserve to be, but everyone knows how good he (Pochettino) is as a manager. For sure he will be successful wherever he goes in the future. Obviously it was the chairman’s decision to let the manager go. That’s football. It happens. Players go, managers go.”

One curiosity of Trippier’s career, though, is that he is a stranger to managerial upheaval.  He was still a reserve-team player when Manchester City sacked Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2008 and Mark Hughes 18 months later. Since then, he has played under Howe and Dyche at Burnley, Pochettino at Tottenham and now Simeone at Atletico.

He goes through them one by one. “Eddie Howe signed me at Burnley,” he says. “He gave me the opportunity to play in the Football League. A quality manager. He was young when he was at Burnley and he’s still young now, but he’s got all the qualities to be a top, top manager and manage a top club. Obviously he’s doing a quality job at Bournemouth, but I feel he could manage a top-four club.”

Dyche? He laughs. “The best manager I’ve had,” he says. “He sorted my career out. He’s like a father figure in football for me. I still speak to him probably once a week, even since I’ve come out here.”

How did he sort your career out? “It was when I was young,” he says. “I was just… being young. You know, not looking after my body right — what I was eating, what I was drinking. I was just a young lad enjoying football. I didn’t really know about my body. As soon as he came in at Burnley, he sat me  down. He said, ‘This needs to stop. You can reach the top level, but you need to cut these things out.’

“And he knew everything — what I was up to, who I was with. It was like he had cameras everywhere. I couldn’t even go into my local without him knowing. Just after he signed, I was in a restaurant in Burnley, called Nino’s, and I was having a glass of Coke. He walked in and started walking over and… honestly, I was bricking it. He came over and smelt my drink, just to check it. He was having banter, but I think he was being serious as well.

“It’s all part of learning. I’m happy I went through that. He’s done so much for me and I can’t thank him enough. It would be nice to play for him again one day.”

‘Atletico Madrid star issues come-and-get-me plea to Burnley’? Not quite. He is happy where he is, even if there are moments when, lying back, he cannot help thinking of England.

The Olympic Stadium, Moscow, July 11, 2018.

The World Cup semi-final is four minutes old and Trippier is standing behind a free-kick just outside the Croatia penalty area, along with Ashley Young. He is having the time of his life. He feels confident. He fancies his chances. “I said to Youngy, ‘I feel like I’m going to score this. I wouldn’t mind taking it.'”

So he takes it. And he hits it perfectly. And the ball curls around the wall, beyond the grasp of Danijel Subasic and into the net. And Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane are wide-eyed and open-jawed in wonder as their team-mate runs off in celebration and slides on his knees. And briefly, all too briefly, England are on the verge of the World Cup final.

“An amazing feeling,” he says, looking back. “I was so delighted, scoring in a World Cup semi-final. We could have been 3-0 up at half-time. But it wasn’t meant to be, was it?

“We’re still proud of the journey we went on. The Colombia game: the way we played and then H (Kane) taking the penalty, which took about four minutes because they (Colombia’s players) were scuffing up the spot. They scored in stoppage time and it went to penalties — and then England had a meltdown because we’d never won a penalty shoot-out at a World Cup before. The way we handled that was perfect.”


(Photo: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images)
The semi-final against Croatia was a different case. It ended in tears — literally so for Trippier, who limped off in the final minutes of extra-time. “I think it was cramp, but I felt like my groin had come off the bone,” he says. “Physically, I just couldn’t carry on. I don’t even know what was going through my mind at that moment. You’re 2-1 down in a World Cup semi-final with five minutes to play. I could see my team-mates still out there and I felt terrible because I couldn’t carry on. My mind went blank.

“Everyone was devastated afterwards. It took a few hours to sink in. When we got back to the hotel, Gareth spoke to us and we just reflected on the journey we’d been on. It was a new system, a young team. I don’t think anyone had high expectations of us beforehand, but we overcame so many things during that tournament and it felt like the players, the fans and the nation had come back together. There’s so much talent coming through now and the future is looking very bright.

“A lot of that is down to the manager. Everyone fully respects Gareth and everything that he decides. I don’t know how it has been in the past, but if you look at this group of players, we all get it, we all respect each other and we all talk about what it means to play for England. A lot of that comes from the manager and all the meetings we have. Everyone gets along. Normally if you were away for a month, you would get little arguments and stuff, but there was nothing.”

There was certainly something recently, though, wasn’t there? “I wasn’t there for that,” he laughs. “I genuinely wasn’t there, so I don’t know what went on. But it’s all behind everyone now.”

Most coaches in Spain are referred to as “Mister”, reflecting the British influence in exporting the game in the early 20th century. Simeone is different. To everyone at Atletico Madrid, he is Cholo, a nickname he has carried around since childhood. In Argentine slang, it means something akin to “mixed heritage”.

Simeone appears to like it that way. In some ways, he is still one of the lads. But he is also the undisputed alpha male in that dressing room — an arm around the shoulder, but also a clenched fist. “It’s a very rare combination,” Trippier says. “His man-management qualities are second to none. Even before I came here, having watched Atletico over the years, I could see from the outside how close everyone is. Now that I’m here, I can see it for myself.

“All the players have so much respect for Cholo. Nobody ever steps out of line here because there’s so much respect for him within the dressing room. Nobody is ever late for training or meetings. If we’ve got a meeting, everyone is there well before it starts.”

Is that unusual? “I think it is,” he says. “I’ve been one of those players at times in the past, where I’ve been late. That happens in England — and not just in England, but Italy, France, everywhere, I’m sure. But this club? No way. And it’s not because you’ll be fined or putting the money into the kitty or whatever. It’s about respect. It starts from Cholo and it comes all the way down. Everyone respects the system.

“You see him on the touchline. I was on the bench for one game and he was just going mad from the first whistle to the end of the game. You can see how passionate he is. On the training field, in the dressing room before the game, half-time, full-time — win, lose or draw — he’s always pushing you on and encouraging the players. That’s what you need.”

Could that become overwhelming over time? “No, I don’t think so,” he says. “I know what you’re saying and I know some players say that about managers, but what would you rather have? Have your manager sitting down quietly for the whole game, or encouraging you from the sideline, trying to help you and the team as much as he can? I would rather have this. When you look to the bench and you see your manager looking so passionate, it gives you a lift.”


(Photo: Ruben de la Fuente Perez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Does Simeone ever relax? Does he have a softer side? “Yes, he has banter with the lads.”

Can you understand it? “Not really! But the lads explain it to me. He’s always involved, having a laugh with the lads every morning. He’s also very welcoming, which is important for a manager. His all-round package is unbelievable.”

Simeone’s teams are renowned for their defensive strength — so much so that many felt that Trippier, a more attack-minded full-back, might struggle to adapt to his demands. “I think this is what I needed — working for Cholo and learning more on the defensive side,” he says. “Going forward, I don’t think there’s a problem. Sometimes in my career, the defensive side is what I’ve had to work on. This is the perfect place for that, with the way he sets his team up. There’s no better person to learn from. I feel like I’ve learned so much just since I’ve been here.”

How does Simeone go about it? “It’s about the positions he wants you to take up on the pitch — your own individual position and how that works within the team,” he says. “It’s the way he sets his teams up to try to stop the transition on the counter-attack and also the way he wants you to counter-attack to exploit their weaknesses. His thinking is unbelievable. It’s something he’s done a lot more than my previous managers.”

Is the work video-based? On the training pitch? “On the training field,” he says. “All on the training field. He literally moves you around. He’ll pick you up and put you in the position. Going into the game, you know exactly what you need to do.”

On Sunday evening, Atleti are at home to Barcelona: fourth against first in La Liga. Should Trippier’s team lose, they will be six points adrift and their hopes of repeating the title triumph of 2014 will be under severe threat. Beat Barcelona, though, and they will move level on points with the reigning champions.

“They are an unbelievable side and it’s one of the first fixtures I looked for when I came here,” Trippier says. “Games like this are extra-special for the fans and for everyone involved with the club. All the boys will be up for it.”

It means a reunion with Lionel Messi, whose performance against Tottenham at Wembley in the Champions League last season left him awe-struck. “Everyone knows how good he is, but I think he turned up a few extra notches that night,” Trippier says. “He scored two and he must have hit the woodwork about four times. He was unbelievable.”

Beyond the obvious, what is it like to play against Messi? “It’s weird in a way,” Trippier says. “He spends a lot of the game just walking and walking. You play against (Liverpool’s) Sadio Mane, for instance, and if you take your eye off him for a second, he’ll just dart in behind you. But with Messi, you look four times and he’s still there. It’s weird. A lot of the time he just walks and walks — and then, before you know it, it’s a goal.

“I’ve played against him a few times now and he’s so good at just picking up those little pockets of space. Before Barcelona have made three passes, he already knows where the ball’s going. It’s amazing how clever he is. Even when he’s walking like that, you’ve always got to be aware.

“He’s unbelievable, the best ever.

“But it’s not just Messi. There are the players around him. You can go through the whole Barcelona team… Arthur is an unbelievable player.”

That is something else that has struck Trippier about La Liga: the technical quality across the board. “Maybe a lot of English players don’t know a lot about La Liga,” he says. “To be honest, I didn’t really before I started playing in it, but I’m here now and I’ve realised just how good the league is, how good the individual players are, how well the teams are set up. Technically, the standard is high. In the Premier League, the tempo is very fast, so if you give the ball away, you can sometimes win it back quite quickly. If you give the ball away here, you’re chasing it for a long time.”

One familiar narrative in English football circles is that the big clubs have it easy in La Liga. Results this season — and last — suggest otherwise. “I can tell you now it’s not like that,” Trippier says. “Real Sociedad beat us at their place. They’re a very good side. Eibar were a very good side. We beat them in the last seconds. Getafe… I could go through them. There are a lot of very tight games. It shows how competitive this league is. People might think from the outside that it’s just Atletico, Real Madrid and Barcelona, but it’s the total opposite. When you come here and experience it, you see there are no easy games at all.”

A sense of intrigue greeted Trippier when he joined up with the England squad for the recent European Championship qualifiers. “Some of the lads were saying, ‘Are you enjoying it? What’s it like,'” he says. “I told them I’m loving it.

“The atmosphere in the stadiums is great. I’ve played in England all my career and if you’re 2-0 down at home, the fans can, you know, turn on you a bit. But we were losing 2-0 at home against Eibar and you didn’t hear anything like that. There was no negativity if anyone misplaced a pass. It was all very positive and we ended up winning the game 3-2.

“In England, it feels like there’s so much publicity and so much focus all the time — a lot of press, a lot of TV, a lot of social media. If you make a mistake, people are on your back. It actually feels less like that here. Social media doesn’t seem to be such a big deal here.”

What do fans say when they see you in public? “They don’t really come over and ask for photos,” he says. “They’ll just say hello or they’ll say ‘¡Aupa Atleti!’ They’re very passionate about their club, but very welcoming.”

Should more English players look abroad? “For sure,” he says. “You see a lot of the young boys doing it. There are a few young lads in Germany, like Jadon (Sancho) at Dortmund and Jonjoe Kenny at Schalke (on loan from Everton). I think you’ll see more and more doing it. Some players don’t want to go out of their comfort zone, because of course the Premier League is one of the best leagues in world, but coming here — great football, great lifestyle — I would definitely recommend it.”

A willingness to leave his comfort zone — moving away from Summerseat, away from Manchester City, away from Burnley, away from Tottenham and now to Spain, working under Simeone — has ended up defining Trippier’s career.

Sunday evening brings the most demanding assignment of all: trial by Messi. But he is ready for it.