Kieran Trippier's England call-up should be no surprise - there are few better full-backs in the country than him

Trippier is unlikely to immediately replace teammate Kyle Walker but with a friendly in Paris to follow the qualifier in Scotland, the youngster could get a chance

Kieran Trippier more than deserves his England call-up (Getty)

If there is some surprise that Gareth Southgate has picked three right-backs in his England squad for next month’s friendlies, there should be little that one of them is Kieran Trippier. The Tottenham man has shown over the second half of this season that there are very few more dangerous or incisive attacking full-backs in the country than him.

When Tottenham signed Trippier from Burnley two years ago for just £3.5million, he arrived to provide competition for Kyle Walker, the established first choice at right-back. And by the end of this season, Trippier had finally supplanted Walker to become Mauricio Pochettino’s first choice pick in that role.

It was Trippier, not Walker, who started the biggest games at the end of the season for Spurs: the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley, the last ever north London derby at White Hart Lane and then the last ever match there, the defeat of Manchester United.

That owes in part to Pochettino’s own issues with Kyle Walker, which will likely see him leave this summer, but it also speaks volumes of Trippier’s performances and reliability. If Pochettino did not trust Trippier for the biggest games he certainly would not be picking him. He is likely to be offered a new deal at Tottenham this summer.

Trippier is not necessarily the most powerful full-back around but what marks him out is the quality of his delivery in the final third. He has a great knack of making over or under-lapping runs down to the byline and delivering precise crosses towards goal. He has five Premier League assists for 2017, more than any other defender in the division.

Tottenham, as everyone knows, rely on their full-backs for width, whether they are playing 4-2-3-1 or the 3-4-2-1 they preferred in the second half of the season. Because the attacking midfielders come inside, the burden is on Danny Rose or Ben Davies on the left and Walker or Trippier on the right to push up and cause problems. Which is just what Trippier has been able to do.

Trippier enjoyed a fine end to the season with Tottenham (Getty Images)

“The style of play as full-backs is very different to when I was at Burnley, so I’ve had to adapt to that,” Trippier told The Independent in an interview last year. “You are basically playing as a winger here. At Burnley we were always in a battle last season. Here we are always on the front foot, pressing high, as full-backs.”

Southgate has spoken at length of the expansive entertaining style that he wants to play and it is little surprise that he is building around the Tottenham template. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier will make up the spine of the England team for years to come . Rose is England’s best left-back although after having a knee operation this month he is not in the squad for the June matches.

Walker has been Southgate’s first choice right back and Trippier is unlikely to immediately replace him there. But with a friendly in Paris to follow the qualifier in Scotland, Trippier could have his chance to impress. He has played for England teams before, and starred at the European Under-19 Championship in 2009. But now he has his chance to shine with the seniors.