The [Daily Mail][1] is reporting that they’ll try and convince Kieran Trippier to swap Madrid for Birmingham, the Champions League for a relegation scrap.
Competition
Dean Smith wants to bring the England international to Villa Park to help them plug a leaky defence and compete for a spot at right-back with Frederic Guilbert and Ahmed Elmohamady. The report doesn’t mention a free, but it does say Aston Villa might ask to have him for one season.
They conceded 67 goals last season, the second highest in the Premier League, but are backed by wealthy investors and seem ready to splash the cash again. Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has been linked with a move down south after scoring 64 goals in 130 games for Celtic. Could Trippier be swayed by glorious visions of a shiny new future in the Midlands?
Big Push
It’ll take some charm offensive to recruit a man who played 33 times in all competition for Diego Simeone, one of the great managers of his time, to come back to England prematurely.
It’s not as if Trippier isn’t enjoying his time in Spain and wants to move home to England. [Marca][2] reported that he made an effort to integrate quickly; one of the first things he did was to hire a Spanish teacher and he threw himself into the local culture.
Trippier did have a little bit of a first-season wobble with Madrid, but recovered to feature heavily towards the end of the season and he only missed three Champions League games throughout the whole campaign.
Rotation?
Featuring just five times in the last 10 games shows a little bit of inconsistency towards the end of the campaign, although the one-on one-off pattern indicates Trippier was being rotated in order to stay fresh.
He’s playing under Simeone, regularly in the Champions League and is experiencing a new culture in Madrid all while fighting at the top end of La Liga with some outstanding players.
Why would you swap that for Villa?[1]: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8656241/Aston-Villa-targeting-shock-Atletico-Madrid-England-defender-Kieran-Trippier.html[2]: https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2020/07/20/5f15aff3e2704e11af8b4585.html