Everton are reportedly keen to sign Kieran Trippier this month after indicating their interest in a loan deal with Newcastle United during initial talks with the club.
Trippier, 33, has a personal relationship with the Merseyside club’s manager, Sean Dyche, which stretches back over a decade to when he replaced Eddie Howe as Burnley’s boss in 2012. They worked together for almost three years before the full-back joined Tottenham Hotspur, but they have stayed in touch since.
That included Trippier calling his former manager on FaceTime after winning La Liga with Atletico Madrid. Dyche recalled that story early last year before becoming the Everton boss.
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“Kieran Trippier, he FaceTimed me off the pitch when they won La Liga,” Dyche said on episode 175 of the High Performance podcast, which premiered the day he replaced Frank Lampard as Everton’s manager. “I mean, that is awesome, and I’m just like, “Tripps, what on earth?'”
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“That means so much to me because he knows that I had a reaction with him and him with me, where it rubbed off on him. Things like that mean as much to me as all sorts of different things that happen in my career.”
Dyche added: “I don’t like to mention favourites apart from Kieran. That’s what I always tell the players, I go “you know I don’t do favourites, lads, apart from Kieran.”
On the relationship, Dyche explained: “We got him as a little butter ball; he wasn’t in the shape he needed to be in [but he was a] very talented young man. Just a bit loose, but he had a lovely edge about him. I love it; he’s a little lovable rogue, not nothing terrible, not in big trouble or anything, just got an edge, and I really loved it on him.
“I just needed to push him a little bit, cajole him a little, but he listened. So therefore, you build a real rapport; he did fantastic for us, had an amazing time at Burnley before he went to Tottenham, and just always respected it.
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“And now and again, he’ll ring me for advice read, and we just sort of kept in touch, got to know a couple of his mates and his family a little bit. He got me tickets for the Euros (in 2021) and stuff like that.
“He still FaceTimes me, now and again, rings me, “alright, Gaffer, everything alright?” I’m going, “yeah, cool, what’s happening, Trips?”
The host, Jake Humphrey, then quips: “Well, we know what your first signing will be if you can get him, to which Dyche replies: “yeah, yeah.”
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