Eric Dier: Why the Tottenham Star Should Reject Bayern

Eric Dier has enjoyed a whirlwind rise over the past 12 months and certainly this time last year not one person would have expected him to have been playing regularly for Spurs and England as a midfielder.

His successful conversion to the position has drawn admirers from far and wide with Bayern Munich rumoured to be keeping tabs on the 22 year old.

He is one of the few England players to return home from the European Championship with any credit and the fact that he was ill on the afternoon of the Iceland game perhaps offers him an excuse others do not have.

The decision to play him despite that signifies just how dramatic his rise has been given Dier played no part in England’s qualifying campaign but is now considered a key part of the team.

 

Pochettino factor

Mauricio Pochettino deserves plenty of credit for converting him from a defender who had a reasonable first season at White Hart Lane, but didn’t exactly set the world on fire into a midfielder who started all but one of Spurs’ Premier League games in the 2015-16 campaign and was hugely impressive.

Stories linking him with Bayern Munich seemed fanciful at first, but Carlo Ancelotti has described the youngster as one of the best players at the Euros only this week and it has the potential to develop into one of the more unlikely transfer sagas this summer if the Germans do decide to move forward with a bid for the player.

A move to the German champions may well appeal to Dier as it would most footballers and unlike almost all English players.

He has already spent many years abroad having progressed through the youth ranks at Sporting Lisbon in Portugal so a switch to Germany is unlikely to faze him.

 

Best to stay put

However for now Dier may well be best staying put.

There is always an element of risk to any transfer that a player might not necessarily be the right fit for their new club and Dier is simply not in a position right now where he needs to take one.

At 22 years old, he is playing regularly in a position he appears very comfortable for a side well equipped to challenge at the right end of Premier League again next year.

Given the average age of the Tottenham squad is so young there is real potential for them to continue to develop and Dier will get to test himself in the Champions League this coming campaign.

 

More to lose than gain

In essence, he has more to lose than gain by moving away, particularly given he is still only a recent convert to the midfield and could do with at least another year to develop in the position.

It’d also be better to do that in an environment he is comfortable rather than at one of European football’s biggest clubs, where the pressure to perform would be immense from the off.

The potential move is one that looks unlikely to happen this summer for numerous reasons, but if Dier performs well again this year for Spurs it’s something that could crop up again in the future with Ancelotti clearly an admirer.

For now though, Dier should stay put and and continue to develop and grow as a central midfielder and White Hart Lane is the perfect place for him to do just that.

 

Written by Mark Sochon

Follow Mark on Twitter @tikitakagol

Check out his brilliant blog on all things La Liga, Tiki-Taka-Gol!

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