Trippier benefited from Walkers departure

Former Spurs defender Kyle Walker says his leaving the club has allowed Kieran Trippier to step up which could benefit England in the long term.

Walker left Spurs for Manchester City for £50million last summer, battled with Trippier for a first team spot in north London, but has seen his England team-mate thrive since his departure.

Ivory Coast international Serge Aurier arrived from PSG to fill the void left by Walker, however Mauricio Pochettino has preferred the former Burnley man as Aurier has tried to adapt to life in London.

Walker and Trippier have also begun to flourish under Gareth Southgate, with the former playing in a back three to allow the latter a right wing-back role.

“I thought about what I was wanting to do with my career,”:Walker told BBC 5 live of his Spurs departure.”Tripps [Kieran Trippier] was a great competitor at Spurs for me, but I wanted to give myself something new.Going to City was the right step, working with the manager, him passing on some of the experience he’s gained from working with players.

Walker added: “It’s good for Tripps to get regular football, and it’s good for me and, hopefully, England too.”

Walker’s fee was a surprise to many last summer, and while and it’s something he felt he had to prove and winning the title and landing a spot in the PFA Team of the Year, the 27-year-old feels he has more than done that.

“There was a bit of me that wanted to prove people wrong,”:he continued. “To me, it was the two Chairmen who came to that price [transfer fee], that wasn’t down to me.I didn’t say ‘£50m, you’ve got to buy me for that’, it’s completely up to them. I was out of the way for that.

Walker added: “So when you do see little things like that and a few presenters who say things, but I just had to prove to myself that I’m good enough to play in this team, because I was coming into a team full of world class players.

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