Journalist explains Eddie Howe's stance on Kieran Trippier with defender linked with move to Turkey

While the Janaury transfer window has closed in England, the Turkish window is still open, and with Galatasaray on the hunt for Kieran Trippier, that's got Eddie Howe slightly on edge.

Eddie Howe has made his position clear that he wants Kieran Trippier to stay at the club and has done so for as long as the former England international has been linked with a move away, which has been over a year now.

Personal reasons made Trippier look at a future away from Newcastle United, and with the emergence of Tino Livramento as first-choice right-back, it seemed that things were working behind the scenes to prepare for life without Trippier.

A few poor performances and a few injuries have had it easy for fans, and we count ourselves in this, to see that losing Trippier wouldn't be the worst idea, but Eddie Howe saw things differently.

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Newcastle can't afford to let Kieran Trippier move to Turkey

On Wednesday night, Eddie Howe brought in Kieran Trippier to replace Tino LIvramento in the starting lineup to face Arsenal, and it proved to be a masterstroke. Trippier was outstanding against the gunners.

Now, The Athletic's George Caulkin has shed a bit more light on the Trippier situation on the Pod on the Tyne podcast.

“You can absolutely see why there is a different case here than there is with Miguel Almiron and Lloyd Kelly.

“Trippier is still being linked with a move to Turkey. Their transfer window is still open, but you can just see why right now, at the moment, that would not be the right call, and you can see why Eddie Howe is absolutely desperate to keep him.

“On this form, he stays in the team, for me. I’ve thought that for much of the season, I know injuries have kind of got in the way for him a bit, but I will be playing Kieran Trippier at the minute. He showed every ounce of why he’s been an elite player.”

Eddie Howe could rotate between Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento

Tino Livramento is definitely still the future for Newcastle, but he has areas of his game he needs to work on, especially in the attacking third, which is where Trippier has excelled for Newcastle.

Trippier is 34 and doesn't have the legs to do what he used to on a consistent basis, so while we agree he brings a lot to the side, we're not sure he would be a regular starter for us, but there's no reason why Howe can't divide the workload between him and Tino.

Even when we were advocating for Trippier to be sold, we always said that we wanted him back at the club as a coach, and that will never change regardless of what happens between now and the end of his playing career.