Chelsea icon Mario Melchiot says Newcastle have a ‘very good’ £12m player

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Chelsea icon Mario Melchiot has praised Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier following the Carabao Cup clash between the two sides on Tuesday.

The Blues cult hero, speaking on BBC Football Daily, says the Magpies ace is a “very good” right-sided player that he likes a lot.

Melchiot also admitted he’s at a loss to explain what’s happened to Trippier in wake of a number of mistakes he has made in recent games.

The 33-year-old has been one of Newcastle’s standout players since joining from Atletico Madrid for a reported £12million almost two years ago.

However, Trippier has suffered a downturn in form of late, making several errors in recent games, including against Chelsea.

In the latter stages of the game, Trippier got his head on the ball after it was crossed into the box, but rather than finding a teammate, the ball fell into no man’s land.

Mykhaylo Mudryk was on hand to race onto the loose ball and slam home, drawing Chelsea level and taking the match to a penalty shootout, which they won.

‘Very good right-sided player’

Melchiot spoke about Chelsea’s performance before touching upon Trippier’s loss of form.

“When you watch your team or go to the stadium, you want to see the best that came out of it,” said the Dutchman.

“Watching them [Chelsea] play, they got into the game and in the first half, [Conor] Gallagher hit the crossbar, that’s when they woke up a bit.

“They tried to control the game, regardless of if they conceded a goal, they were always pushing and trying to get themselves back into the game.

“For me it was funny that [Kieran] Trippier made a mistake, because I like him as a player. He’s a very good right-sided player.

“I don’t know what’s happening now, a couple of games in a row, you understand the Everton game, Spurs game now Chelsea, he slipped up a little bit.”

Kieran Trippier a superb player who’s just a bit low on confidence

It’s sad to see Trippier, previously one of the most consistent players in the Newcastle team, lose form and make errors.

Mudryk took to social media after the game to praise the Magpies man, which was a kind gesture from one of his opponents on the night.

Quality is permanent, while form is temporary, so let’s hope Trippier can find his feet again and get back to the levels everyone knows he’s capable of reaching.