Eric Dier has said that despite the fact he is only a few months away from turning 30, he believes his best years are still ahead of him.
Dier’s Spurs career has been quite a rollercoaster ride since he first arrived at the club as a youngster from Sporting Lisbon back in 2014.
He impressed as a right-back and a centre-back in Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at the club before hitting new heights as a defensive midfielder during the next couple of seasons as the Lilywhites challenged for the title two years in a row.
Dier then shifted back to central defence under Jose Mourinho and while he initially shone for the Portuguese coach, he was one of several players who struggled during the special one’s final few months at the club.
It was a similar story for the 29-year-old under Antonio Conte as he thrived as a central sweeper in a back three during the Italian’s first 12 months at the club before his form fell off a cliff during the second half of last season.
Eric Dier still plans on doing great things in his career
The Tottenham man has now remarked that working under so many different managers in North London has been a great footballing education and boldly declared that the best still yet to come from him.
Dier told Football.London: “I’m 29! I genuinely believe my best years are ahead of me. I don’t just believe, I know that.
“From what I’ve seen in my team-mates and players I’ve played with over the years, if I look at two of my great friends in Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele, for me they had their best years in their early 30s when I was with them at Tottenham. For me, that was the best moments of their careers.
“So I think you look around and you see that with many players. I know my best years are coming, I’m excited for that. I’m really enjoying working under the manager. Obviously, it’s a very different style of play but that’s enjoyable physically and mentally to learn a different style of football.
“I’ve been extremely lucky to work with Pochettino, Mourinho, Conte and now Ange. Every single one of them, their style is different. The way they train is different, tactically they’re different. For me and my football education, I’ve been extremely lucky.”
Of all the players at Tottenham over the years, Dier arguably gets criticised more fiercely on social media by the fan base than almost any other, but the defender insisted that he simply does not read what is said about him on these platforms.
When asked about the criticism he gets online, he responded: “Many people might say they don’t care, I’m telling you I genuinely don’t care! I don’t read it. You’d have to tell me.
“Yesterday we did an appearance with some kids and they asked how we deal with the pressure of social media and all that stuff. The answer for me is really simple. You don’t look at it and then it doesn’t exist in your mind. That’s what I do and then I don’t care.
“The only people that I care about is what my family says about me, and what my manager and team-mates say about me. The rest of it I really couldn’t care less.
“For the first six months of the season, people were saying X, Y and Z about me, the next six months they were saying something else. I don’t care. It’s football, man. It’s not something that bothers me at all.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I do not think any footballer (or any athlete for that matter) should look at what has been written about them on social media as fans can be quite fickle. Most players at the highest level would be capable of shutting out the outside noise and focusing on their performances.
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