Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino is a bit of a prankster.
Kieran Trippier has revealed the brilliant way in which Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino informed him of his England call-up.
The Spurs right-back was speaking to Sky Sports’ Soccer AM show on February 16.
Trippier, who joined Tottenham from Burnley in 2015, made his England debut in 2017, before starring for the Three Lions at last summer’s World Cup in Russia.
The 28-year-old claims that during Spurs’ end-of-season tour in Hong Kong, Pochettino pranked him by pretending that he was in trouble, when really he had been called up to the England squad.
He told Sky Sports’ Soccer AM show: “We were in Hong Kong on an end of season tour and he just come up to me and went ‘ah, I need to speak to you, you’re in a bit of trouble’. So I’m thinking to myself ‘oh no, what have I done now’.
“But he didn’t tell me until after the session, so we’d done the full session and I’m just thinking ‘what have I done’. I think I had a shocker as well in training, so then he pulled me after training and says ‘congratulations, you’ve been called up for England’.
“I was so scared, thinking all session that there was something wrong.”
Despite being Gareth Southgate’s best player in last summer’s showpiece, Trippier has struggled for Tottenham this season.
For whatever reason, the former Burnley defender hasn’t really been able to rediscover the form he showed in Russia, with Pochettino dropping him for Serge Aurier in the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in midweek.
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