TINO TOLD TO GO FOR TRIPPIER’S TOON SPOT
KIERAN TRIPPIER has challenged Tino
Livramento to nick his job for Newcastle and England.
The England and Toon right-back is out of the trip to Chelsea tonight with a calf injury and Livramento is set for a run in the team.
The former Southampton star has had to be patient since signing for £30million last summer, with Trippier continuing as United’s talisman.
But he is ready to step up in the medium term, and even as soon as this summer if Bayern Munich renew their January interest in Trippier, 33.
Asked about the 21-year-old’s ability to succeed him for club and country, Trippier (with Livramento, above) said: “Of course. If you ask Tino, that will be his aim and if you ask me, I’d want every player to feel the same way.
“If you’re not in the team, your aim and ambition should be to try to get into the team, to try to prove you’re better than the teammate that you’re competing against.
“If you have that in your squad, I think you’ve got a healthy squad, you’ve got a good balance between being a good team-mate and fighting for your place.”
Livramento (scoring in the Toon’s 3-0 win against
Wolves last weekend, right) has been used at left-back but will play his preferred position at Stamford Bridge, where he was once their Academy Player of the Year.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said: “Naturally, when you’re training next to someone every day, little things they do will brush off on you.
“Certainly, Kieran has got qualities that Tino will adapt into his game and look at and think ‘is that something I can develop further?’
“Kieran is a really good talker about the game as well with his experiences so I think all of those things will have been invaluable for Tino this year.
“Tino has shown all the qualities. He has been learning and developing behind the scenes. He’s been no doubt picking things up off Kieran and I’ve enjoyed seeing them both battle against each other.”
Skipper Trippier will travel to Chelsea with the team, despite being injured, to help lead from the touchline.
Newcastle need to win games to mount a strong challenge for the European places, and have a massive FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City on Saturday.
Trippier is hoping this season’s Champions League campaign will not be his only Euro challenge for the club.
He said: “We’ve had the taste of it, we’ve got the squad to compete in Europe. The frustrating thing this season, we’ve not had that squad together. We’ve just got to finish this season strongly.
“This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster with injuries, the limited players we’ve had available.”
Trippier admits he spoke to Harry Kane about Bayern Munich’s interest in him, which did not lead to a move.
The former Atletico Madrid defender said: “I speak to Harry all the time.
“Harry was texting me, of course, but it just wasn’t the right thing for me. But I take it as a compliment that a club like Bayern Munich wanted to sign me.
“He wasn’t pushing, he was just texting ‘Is it true?’, just little things like that, really, just telling me it’s warmer than Newcastle and having a bit of banter.
“Harry’s a professional, he wouldn’t try and tap me up, as we say.
“I was in New York and I was woken up at 5am their time saying, ‘Bayern Munich want to sign you’, so I was like, ‘This is a bit random’.
“I never thought at 33 years old that Bayern Munich would want to sign me, so it was more of a shock to me than anybody.
“I’ve been loyal to the club and my family is important – travelling three different countries in three years, it’s not really ideal, is it?”