Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has commented on Eric Dier’s previous links with Manchester United.
Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur (R) speaks to Eric Dier
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has told the Daily Mail that he spoke to Eric Dier in the summer of 2016 following interest from Manchester United.
Dier, 23, joined Spurs from Sporting Lisbon in Pochettino’s first season as Spurs boss, and arrived having featured for England at Under-18, 19, 20 and 21 levels.
Cheltenham-born Dier moved to Portugal at a young age, and came up through the ranks with Sporting before his bargain move to Spurs, where he has thrived under Pochettino.
Whilst he spent his first season as a right back or centre back, Dier starred in the 2015-16 campaign as a holding midfielder, and his versatility has been vital to Tottenham over the last three years.
Much like many Spurs players who have developed under Pochettino, Dier has been heavily linked with a move to another club, with Manchester United understood to be interested.
Tottenham have so far managed to keep hold of Dier, though United have been linked with Dier in two successive summer transfer windows, and manager Pochettino has commented on the situation surrounding the Spurs ace.
Pochettino has revealed to the Daily Mail that he feels that Dier can become a top-class centre back, but the player himself feels he is a midfielder – and even felt poorly-treated when Spurs signed Victor Wanyama from Southampton in the summer of 2016.
Pochettino felt that Dier struggled at times during the 2016-17 season, and found out that United had made moves to sign Dier, which were distracting him, and having been frustrated with Dier for being close with United boss Jose Mourinho last season, Pochettino told Dier he was staying put – and now thinks he re-focused on Spurs.
“I’ve told Eric he has what it takes to be the best English centre back but he has to be convinced of that himself,” said Pochettino. “We’ve put the conditions in place for him to improve. But he broke into the national team thanks to his displays in the [midfield] holding role and ended up scoring a couple of big goals. After we signed [Victor] Wanyama [in summer, 2016], Eric, who now sees himself as a midfielder, felt that we had treated him badly because Wanyama’s arrival would halt his development. His performances have started to suffer this season. We’ve spoken a lot recently but I’ve felt he hasn’t been telling me everything. Later on, I once again tried to understand why he couldn’t shake off the shackles and I offered to help him with whatever it was. Nothing. Then I found out that United have made an approach and the player is being destabilised. His people have been putting pressure on him, although United are not promising anything. Mourinho and I had finished our interviews at Old Trafford [after the 1-0 defeat by Manchester United, December 2016] and the players were doing their warm-down on the pitch. When Jose was done with the press, he stood by the entrance to the tunnel and regarded the returning players.”
“He greeted Moussa Sissoko and hugged Dier. They passed by me en route to the dressing rooms, laughing, speaking in Portuguese. Maybe it is a common Mourinho tactic, but he put Eric in a compromising position. You cannot do that after a defeat. ‘Are you friends with Mourinho?’ I asked him. ‘No, but I’ve known him a long time, from my time in Portugal… one of his godsons coached me. He always says hello.’ I sat down with Eric after lunch on Monday and we chatted for four hours about the whole shebang: his agent, family, confusion. As for the Mourinho incident, ‘What could I have done?’ Eric asked me. He told me about United’s interest since last summer [2016] and I explained the situation to him clearly.”
‘Look, you aren’t leaving because you signed a five-year deal with us in August. You’re among the highest-paid players at Tottenham at the age of 22. You’re important to us and you could become the best centre back in the Premier League.’ Ever since that conversation, Eric admits that he could have waited for Mourinho to be out of sight before heading to the dressing room,” he added.