Newcastle United have kicked off their transfer window with the imminent signing of Kieran Trippier, with the club aiming for proven quality to help them pull away from the Premier League's relegation battle and build for the future that their new ownership envisions.
One thing many will expect from Trippier is excellent delivery into the box from the right, with his cross for Luke Shaw in the Euro 2020 final in the Summer a prime example of what he can offer in helping the Magpies improve as an attacking force.
However, England manager, Gareth Southgate believes he is highly underrated as a defender.
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In fact, he often tweaked his line-up during the tournament to include Trippier, more often doing it for defensive reasons than offensive. One example being utilising him at left-back in England's first game of the tournament, over the man many expected to start there in Luke Shaw.
"What Kieran has is hugely underestimated,” Southgate said of Trippier in the summer
"People are still seeing the lad that was at Tottenham a couple of years ago and not the defensive animal that has grown at Atletico Madrid, trusted by one of the best and most successful coaches in the world.
"He gets his distances right on cover, he’s good one-v-one to stop crosses and his talking is really good."
As well as the technical ability Trippier has as a defender, Southgate mentioned his ability to organise and communicate, which will be important, given Newcastle's shambolic defending thus far in 21/22.
"There was always going to be changes to our back four and we felt that communication and organisation was an important part.”
As only Norwich have conceded more goals than Newcastle, the club recognise that the defence needs serious work. As such, they hope to add a centre back to Eddie Howe 's squad as well, meaning that the back four would be significantly strengthened by two starters.
James Tarkowski is perhaps the favourite at the moment and given his experience playing for Burnley - one of the most drilled defensive units - the pair of Trippier and Tarkowski would add steel, organisation and ball-winning ability that has been sorely lacking.
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