Kieran Trippier has revealed that Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone would stay and work with him individually for 90 minutes after training sessions to help him flourish in Spain.
Trippier raised a few eyebrows when he left Tottenham for the Spanish giants in a deal worth £20million in the summer of 2019.
But his move to the Spanish capital was successful. He made 86 appearances in all competitions for Atletico and won the LaLiga title last season.
Trippier, who moved back to England earlier this month when he joined Newcastle for £12m, has opened up on what it's like to play for the Argentine boss, describing his work ethic as 'relentless'.
Speaking in an interview in The Athletic, Trippier revealed the lengths he would go to for the England defender to help him reach his maximum ability.
Trippier said: 'He's hard to explain… but when you see him on the touchline, that's how he is in every training session, every passing drill. He's just relentless. He'd work me for an hour and a half after training doing one-v-ones, showing me clips from my time at Tottenham, saying I should be doing this or that.
'He helped me such a lot. He got me into positions I never thought I'd be in as a footballer. A lot of people were saying that Atletico was the wrong decision for me and "he won't get past the halfway line in a Simeone team" but I didn't really think about that.'
Trippier swapped Madrid for the north east in January when he joined Eddie Howe's Newcastle in their bid to avoid relegation.
The England right back was the first signing under the club's new Saudi ownership and penned a two-and-a-half-year contract with the option of a further year.
He has so far played twice in the Premier League and once in the FA Cup, winning one, drawing one and losing one.
The 31-year-old revealed he wanted to return to the north of England and hopes his arrival at St James' Park can help attract others to the club in their bid to avoid the drop.
'I had lots of conversations with the manager (Simeone) and behind the scenes with the Atletico president,' he says. 'They made it clear they didn't want me to go, but I had a couple of family reasons for why I needed to come back.
'I wanted to come back to the north, and up north there was only Newcastle interested. But I know the manager (Eddie Howe) and I've worked with him before (at Burnley) and I had good chats with him about the project and what could happen. I thought that maybe I could tempt other players to come here, too, that if I've joined Newcastle maybe it shows we can get out of it. It's going to be difficult, but I'm up for it. It's perfect timing for me and my family.'