Is Kieran Trippier headed for sunny Spain? Atletico and Spurs close to deal

It looks as though Tottenham Hotspur are making their first sale of the season.

While we’ve all expected a move to Madrid happen for at least one player on the squad, most Spurs supporters would have put their money on Christian Eriksen flying off to Real Madrid. Instead, Alasdair Gold has put out an exclusive report stating that Atletico Madrid have not only shown interest, but a deal is all but done.

Gold gets right to it in the article:

The 28-year-old has been linked with a move abroad all summer and football.london understands that the two clubs are now close to sealing a deal for Trippier and that the England international has been given permission to have his medical with Atletico on Tuesday.

The right-back, who joined Tottenham from Burnley in 2015 for £3.5m, is expected to move to the La Liga giants for a figure believed to be around £25m in the coming days.

Trippier has been rumored to be leaving the club as far back as March, when rumors suggested he may be headed to Juventus or even Manchester United. United dropped out of the bidding when they spent £50m on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Juventus have focused on moves for Adrien Rabiot and Matthijs de Ligt. Napoli jumped in as well and seemed like a logical move, but Atletico have apparently jumped into the mixer and didn’t waste any time.

Kieran Trippier has had a wild ride at Tottenham. As the article states, he joined Tottenham back in 2015 for a Levy Bargain Basement™ deal of just £3.5m. He joined the rotation at fullback with Kyle Walker and became the first choice at the position when Walker left for Manchester City. He had a hell of a World Cup last summer and had a good couple of months following that performance, but had an up and down season after that. There have been reports that he carried a groin injury for much of the season as well.

£25m for Trippier is fantastic business, and while the fullback market seems a little thin this summer, this is hard to pass up. Trippier will fit in nicely in Diego Simeone’s system and he should do well in Spain. The question now, if this move does go through, is what Spurs do at fullback for the upcoming season? Serge Aurier has been average at best for his entire time at the club and Kyle Walker-Peters simply isn’t good enough for a Champions League side. Juan Foyth has played right fullback for the last few months and I’d bet money on him staying in that position if Spurs don’t bring someone else in.

We’ll see who else picks up on this story, but Gold has proven himself to have solid sources at the club as he’s one of the main beat writers in London that covers Tottenham. That means there’s definitely substance to this, and it’ll only be a matter of time when other journalists are on it.

UPDATE (9:49AM ET): Say goodbye, everyone.