Former Spurs star Kieran Trippier says he "didn't have to think twice" about leaving north London to join Atletico Madrid when the Spanish side made their interest clear.
The 29-year-old spent four years with Spurs after joining from Burnley in 2015, but despite making himself first-choice right-back under Mauricio Pochettino, Trippier says the lure of "such a big club" and a "world class" manager in Diego Simeone were too hard to turn down.
Trippier has impressed at the Wanda Metropolitano so far this season, playing a starring role in the club's 0-0 draw against bitter rivals Real recently, and setting up a vital equaliser against Juventus in the Champions League.
Trippier says that the winning mentality set "from the top, all the way down" and the passion involved is the key to Atleti's success and standing in the football world, and after having conversations with "a few people back at Tottenham", he decided to make the move.
"Obviously I was very excited when I first signed here," Trippier told BT Sport.
"I know a lot about Atletico through watching them over the years. Obviously, the coaching staff; Cholo [Simeone], the way he sets his team up and you can just see from the outside that the players work so hard for the manger. And I wanted to be a part of this.
"I've always wanted to play abroad just to experience something different, and the time was now. It was a great opportunity for me to come to such a big club. Champions League football, the players that I've got here; it's just an amazing club and I've seen how close everybody is at Atletico and I'm happy to be a part of it.
"I've watched Atletico in the Champions League over the years and sometimes in La Liga, and the players they have here and also Cholo - a world class manager and everybody knows that. To learn from him and play for him: I said in many interviews last season I need to improve my defending and there's no better person to learn from.
"To be honest, when Atletico were interested, I didn't have to think twice. I spoke to a few people back at Tottenham about the opportunity to play in Spain, in La Liga, and to come to Atletico: I jumped straight at it.
"You can see that the passion, the second goal that went in [against Juventus in the first group stage game], [Simeone is] crazy. You can see before games how concentrated Cholo is and on the training field the demands of not just Cholo but all of the staff: it's so 100 per cent professional. You see the winning mentality. Everybody can see it from the outside over the years with the club here coming from the top all the way down. You can see the passion, which is the most important thing, and I can see that the passion is incredible."
