Kieran Trippier asked me if he could leave, reveals Mauricio Pochettino
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Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he has no regrets over Kieran Trippier’s move to Atletico Madrid, insisting that there is no bad blood between them. The former Burnley full-back left for Spain over the summer and has since said that he had only done so after speaking to Pochettino.
With Kieran Trippier recently suggesting in an interview that both Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy kept him in the dark, it has seen Pochettino come out with a reply. The 29-year-old right-back left for Atletico Madrid during the summer window and has since revealed that he had no idea if the club wanted to keep him or sell him, with Pochettino and Levy not talking to him about anything.
Now ahead of Spurs’ London derby against Crystal Palace, Pochettino has revealed that he has no regrets over the way Tottenham handled the former Burnley star’s departure. He even went on to insist that despite the way Trippier left and the comments made by the right-back since then, there is no bad blood between him and Trippier, with the departure a cordial event.
“The only conversation when he arrived after the summer was when he came to see me, he asked me for a meeting and said: ‘Gaffer, I think I have a good possibility and for different reasons, I would like to accept the offer from Atlético Madrid. He didn’t ask me nothing. He only communicated whether the club were going to accept the offer. Nothing more. It wasn’t a conversation – Do you want me? Or don’t you want me?,’ said Pochettino reports the Guardian.
After his interview, reports indicate that Trippier tried to clear the air with Pochettino but was unable to get in touch with his former manager. He then reportedly asked Harry Kane to tell the Spurs boss that his words were taken out of context and that he meant something else entirely.
“I’ve got no problem with Kieran. In football, decisions happen and players move from one club to another. We need to move on. The reality is one reality but who is right in all this process? I keep very good memories of him. We signed him from Burnley for £4m when they were relegated and he was worried about whether he would play or not,” Pochettino further added.
“We signed him from Burnley for £4m when they were relegated and I told him: ‘Don’t worry, we are going to provide you with the best platform to perform.’ And one and a half years later, he was in the starting XI, he reached the national team, played the World Cup and now he’s with Atlético Madrid – when he was in the second division when we signed him.
"One and a half years later, he was in the starting XI, he reached the national team, played the World Cup and now he’s with Atlético Madrid. He played the final of the Champions League when I had plenty of different options – Serge Aurier, Davinson Sánchez, Kyle Walker-Peters. But he played the final. My actions talk more than my mouth,” concluded the Argentine.
