Midfielder admits Spurs move was best decision he could have made

The last year and a half have been quite hard for Spurs midfielder Eric Dier. The 25-year-old, who had established himself has an important part of both Tottenham’s and England’s midfield, suffered multiple injury set backs which put him out of action for the majority of last season.

With the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Harry Winks shining in Dier’s absence and Spurs bringing in the likes of Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso in the summer, Dier now finds himself lower down in the pecking order.

The midfielder gave an interview to the club’s official website previewing the clash against Everton on the weekend.

The England international had a loan spell at Everton as a youngster and was asked about his memories of taking on a Spurs Under-18s team that included Harry Kane at Spurs Lodge back in 2011.

Dier said, “I do remember going to the old training ground. I was at Sporting Lisbon and there were different reasons I needed to leave at that time, Everton were willing to do a loan deal because I didn’t want to leave Sporting for good, they were willing to see how things went and they were really good to me.

“I was there for half a season (2010/11) and then a full season (2011/12) and it went really well. I learned a lot there. It was quite an eye-opening experience for me, very different in many ways to Portugal and when I went back to Sporting, I was much better for it.”

Reflecting on his meteoric rise from a promising youngster at Sporting to a full England international, Dier said, “You don’t really think about it, those are the targets very few players will make, and you try to take one step of the ladder at a time, trying to reach that level.

“I managed to get there earlier than I thought I would. I believed I would, but I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did. I was very comfortable at Sporting and coming to Tottenham was a risk, for me, in a sense – but it was the best decision I could have made.”

Speaking about the game against Everton, Dier said that the team can take confidence from their good record at Goodison Park in recent years.

“It’s a very difficult game,” he added. “We managed to get a great result at Goodison Park last season (6-2 win), and they are going through a bit of a difficult moment as well. They need the win, we need the win – like every game – so it’s going to be interesting.

“I think we can take a lot of confidence from the way we’ve played against them in the past and we need to bounce back.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Dier’s versatility makes him a fantastic squad player, I don’t believe he is quite good enough to become a regular in the team given our aspirations. I believe Dier has a much higher ceiling as a centre half than he does as a defensive midfielder and would like to see him play in the back four.

Related Topics