England success in Euros highlights Tottenham mistakes at right back
By Aaron Coe
Harry Kane was the only Tottenham Hotspur playing for England at Euro 2020, however, two former Spurs on the team, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier highlight transfer mistakes.
Player transfers occur for all kinds of different reasons. Harry Kane’s current situation is a perfect example, where a player may be looking to move on to further his own club career and success. That was the same rationale that led to Kyle Walker wanting to leave Tottenham for Manchester City a couple of seasons ago. However, Kieran Trippier was a different story, as Spurs seemed to think it was just time to move on. After both Trippier and Walker starred for England – at times together – on the right side of the defense, it is safe to say, Spurs got these two transfers wrong.
Walker, Trippier left Tottenham for different reasons
It was for different reasons that both Walker and Trippier left N17 for City and Atletico Madrid, respectively. However, what Tottenham lost with both players was more than just a right back and it is something they have failed to replace.
Walker left for silverware
Kyle Walker has clearly been gone for much longer but his displays this summer show he is far from long in the tooth. Walker was originally signed in 2009 from his boyhood club – Sheffield United – and after a couple of loans was the main right-back option for Tottenham for six seasons from 2011-2017.
In the summer of 2017, Walker moved to Manchester City for a then Premier League record for a defender of $57.97 million (£41.74 million) according to transfermrkt.com. When Walker made it clear, he was leaving to play for Pep Guardiola and win trophies, which he has.
Trippier left for different reasons
Kieran Trippier seemed to be a casualty of the end of the Mauricio Pochettino cycle. Trippier had gone from splitting time with Walker to splitting time with Serge Aurier and things were just not as effective. The Spurs had reached the Champions League final but did not get over the hump.
Trippier had made a few mistakes during the season and tended to take more than his fair share of heat for his mistakes. Ultimately, as the team needed to be turned over and Atletico showed interest, it was an easy move for Trippier as the team in Madrid seemed to want him and the one in London did not.
Two seasons later, Trippier is a La Liga Champion and like Walker still is getting picked for England, unlike all but Kane of their ex-teammates. Ultimately, it is not even really the ‘defense’ that gets either picked it is the unique talents each possess, talents, Tottenham has failed to replace.