Kieran Trippier has confirmed he is fit and well to tackle England’s Euro 2024 finals campaign after finding himself at the centre of rumours he was out of the tournament.
The 33-year-old specialist right-back could once again line up at left-back for his country at a major tournament with Luke Shaw facing a race against time to work his way back from injury before the opening Group C fixture against Serbia on June 16.
Trippier joined up with the Three Lions squad himself on the comeback trail having not played 90 minutes since February because of a calf injury, and off the back of a gruelling post-season trip to Australia with the Magpies which sparked a major scare when he was substituted 37 minutes into a friendly clash with Tottenham in Melbourne.
The defender, who was pictured with a bag of ice strapped to his leg, said: “It was just precautionary. I put a bag of ice on it and the next moment everyone is messaging me saying I’m out of the tournament and this, that and the other. I’m thinking, ‘Am I?’.
“I had so many messages after the game, but there was no knock, it was planned. Obviously, I didn’t train much in the three months I was out and it was a three-game week, so I couldn’t get that training in that I needed.
“Sonny (Tottenham’s Son Heung-min) was testing me for the first 35 minutes – it felt like I was playing 120, so I think the manager decided to take me off.”
Trippier admitted he was initially concerned when he suffered the injury against Wolves on March 2, and eyebrows were raised when he was included in the Newcastle party which jetted out from Heathrow hours after their final-day win at Brentford and reached their destination almost a day later.
The wisdom of the trip and his participation in it was a topic of intense debate, but the former Tottenham and Atletico Madrid man was philosophical.
He said: “It’s no problem at all. We went there, we played the games, we came back, no injuries and now I’m here with England and I’m ready to go for my country.”
Trippier was a member of the England teams which reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the Euro 2020 final and firmly believes that the nation can end its 68-year wait for a major trophy in Germany this summer.
Asked if this could be their year, he said: “That’s our hope. That’s what we want.
“Every single tournament, we want to win, of course we do. We believe that we can do it. We don’t mean that in an arrogant way. Hopefully it will be a good summer coming up.”
Trippier will captain his country in their penultimate warm-up game against Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park on Monday evening, and will be accompanied by his seven-year-old son – the delighted recipient of his father’s Champions League opponent Kylian Mbappe’s Paris St Germain shirt earlier this season – as mascot.
He said: “He’s walked out at St James’ many times already, but to walk out with me leading the team out is something I’ll never forget. A very proud moment for myself.”