Harry Kane has claimed that Eric Dier had his best season in a Tottenham shirt this year and insisted the centre-back is knocking on the door of the England squad.
Dier has been a mainstay in the Tottenham backline all season and the 28-year-old hardly put a foot wrong through the campaign.
Much like some other players in the Spurs squad, the former Sporting Lisbon man has seemingly taken his game to a new level since Antonio Conte’s arrival and has marshalled the Italian’s back three impressively from the central sweeper role.
However, Dier’s displays were not enough to earn him a recall into the England squad for the Nations League fixtures this month.
When asked about the centre-back’s omission, Gareth Southgate remarked that the Tottenham man has done well in a ‘very specific position’ playing ‘in the middle of a three’, and insisted that he wanted to invest time into the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi and Ben White instead (BBC Sport).
Kane has now stated that Dier’s performances were crucial to helping Spurs return to the Champions League, with the England captain adding that his Tottenham teammate is ‘close’ to being called up again to the Three Lions set up.
The striker told Football.London: “I’m really close with Eric, he’s a fantastic player, he’s had a really good season, probably the best season he’s had in terms of being consistent over a long period of time, staying fit and healthy.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“He really fitted into Antonio’s system really well and put in some great performances.
“He was a big reason we got Champions League football [next season], but obviously the squad selection is always down to the manager and it is his decision.
“I’m sure Eric’s knocking on the door, close to getting that call-up again.
“All he has to do is keep working hard, keep doing what he is doing. He has a chance now to recover and rest over the summer and hopefully come back firing at the start of next season.
“There’s another camp in September and then the World Cup so I’m sure he’ll have one eye on that to try to impress the manager.”
Spurs Web Opinion
For Southgate to make the comments that he did about Dier’s exclusion and then to play a back three against Hungary with Conor Coady in the middle, was quite appalling. Dier certainly deserves to be starting ahead of the Wolves man on the back of the season he has had.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
