Fans spotted that Kieran Trippier appears to be talking differently in recent interviews, and they think they've worked out exactly why that is.
Around a year ago, Trippier was swapping Champions League football in Madrid for a relegation battle in Newcastle, and most football fans thought he'd lost the plot.
The right back explained that he wanted a challenge, but that didn't stop people wondering if he'd made the right move for his career.
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We should have perhaps had more faith in the 32-year-old, who now regularly wears the captain's armband and has become integral to the club's revival.
Newcastle are now looking at their first major cup final since 1999, when they take on Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final later this month, and are predicted to finish in the top four, returning Trippier to the Champions League.
It's quite the transformation for Eddie Howe's side in just a year, and it seems that the team's influential right back has also had some sort of transformation.
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Fans noticed the former Tottenham Hotspur star looking and sounding quite different when talking during a recent social media post by the club.
And many believe that the reason for the odd change is snus, a dry tobacco product that one places between the upper lip and gum.
It's quite the trend amongst footballers, and has been for a few years, and many on social media believe that Trippier is amongst those who like it.
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One fan on social media posed the initial question, "Why is he talking like that? Something happened to his lips/gums?"
"Yes Trippier you keep that snus in lad," one fan replied.
"Trips loves snus pass it on," a second claimed.
A third fan, who is clearly also a fan of the substance added, "Snus club!"
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A fourth questioned, "How many snus you think he's got under there?"
"There's no hiding that snus," a fifth perfectly summed up the situation by posting his comment.
Back in 2021, then Sunderland manager Lee Johnson, now in charge north of the border at Hibernian, warned that players were getting addicted to snus.
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"I have had players who are so highly addicted that they are in hospital overnight with something else, maybe an operation, and are begging the doctors and nurses to get them a tub - or otherwise they say they are going to run out of bed and get (it) themselves when they have just had a knee operation," Johnson said.
"It is so highly addictive that it comes to the forefront of our minds which then becomes dangerous."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter @NUFCTopics: Football, Newcastle United, Premier League, Kieran Trippier
