Could Kieran Tripper’s Atlético move see Santiago Arias head to Everton?

Tottenham Hotspur defender Kieran Trippier is set to complete a £20 million move to Atlético Madrid, which could see fellow full-back Santiago Arias leave the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Arias, 27, has been at Atlético for just one season after moving from PSV Eindhoven for £11 million a year ago.

But despite making 33 appearances last season for his new club, he was dropped for the final three games of the season, and Trippier’s impending arrival may well further limit his chances this term.

For a number of reasons, then, it will come as no surprise that Everton are being linked - albeit not particularly strongly - with a move for the Colombian, with news first breaking about a month ago.

Firstly, after the departure of Jonjoe Kenny on loan to Schalke 04 for the season, Blues boss Marco Silva has only one natural right-back in Seamus Coleman, who is 30 and endured arguably his poorest campaign in an Everton shirt last year.

Silva acknowledged he needs reinforcements in this departments by telling the Liverpool Echo on Wednesday:

“In this moment, and since Jonjoe went on loan to Schalke, it has been a position we want strengthen.

“You cannot go through a tough competition like the Premier League with just Seamus Coleman.

“We are really, really happy with Seamus, he finished last season on a very good level but, of course, we have to sign a right-back also.”

That’s not all, though, because Arias is likely to know Everton director of football Marcel Brands well, too, given the Dutchman occupied the same role at PSV throughout Arias’ five years with the club.

Brands, according to the Echo, played a key role in bringing Arias to PSV from Sporting Lisbon in July 2013, and reportedly earmarked him as a possible Everton signing last summer, too.

That said, he would likely cost a hefty fee, with El Gol Digital suggesting Atlético would demand as much as £35 million for the player, who scored once and assisted twice last season.

Arias would certainly come with decent pedigree; he has about 250 career appearances to his name including more than 170 for PSV, and has represented Colombia more than 40 times and knows Yerry Mina very well too.

Whether, at 27, he would fit Brands’ supposed transfer model given his age, remains to be seen, though Everton did, of course, sign 29-year-old Fabian Delph from Manchester City earlier this week.

The Toffees have been linked with several other right-backs this summer, including Aaron Wan-Bissaka and James Justin, who joined Manchester United and Leicester City respectively, as well as Paris Saint-Germain’s Thomas Meunier and Chelsea’s Reece James.