Gareth Southgate has already outline Kieran Trippier's importance to England after recalling the Newcastle defender. The 31-year-old is a part of the Three Lions squad to face Hungary, Italy and Germany next month.
Trippier has been absent from Eddie Howe's squad for the last three months after damaging his metatarsal against Aston Villa, but returned against Manchester City and started the final game of the season against Burnley. There were question marks over Trippier's inclusion at left-back in the Euro 2020 squad, but Southgate insisted he'd become a 'defensive animal' during his time with Atletico Madrid.
The Three Lions boss told journalists that he wary of defensive doubts at the back ahead of England's Nations League fixtures, he said: "We've picked extra numbers there, we've got quite a few doubts at the back. It's a bit of a minefield in terms of players that have missed football, coming back from injury, some have only had one 90 minutes, with a couple unavailable in terms of Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell that haven't played anything at all really."
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Trippier is among the England squad to have played just 90 minutes on his return to action, but it shows the faith he has in the Magpies defender. Southgate previously told the Guardian : "What Kieran has, firstly, is hugely underestimated.
"People are still seeing the lad that was at Spurs a couple of years ago and not the defensive animal that has grown at Atlético Madrid, trusted by one of the best and most successful coaches in the world.
“He gets his distances right on cover, he’s good one-v-one to stop crosses and his talking is really good. There was always going to be changes to our back four and we felt that communication and organisation was an important part.”
