Eric Dier believes his career isn’t appreciated enough – and claims that he should be in the England squad at Euro 2024.
The Tottenham defender is currently on loan at Bayern Munich, having linked up with ex-Spurs team-mate Harry Kane in a surprise January move, set to be made permanent this summer. Dier, 30, has made a total of 11 appearances for Thomas Tuchel’s side, three of which have been defeats as Bayern’s Bundesliga title chances continue to slip away.
But speaking ahead of their hotly-anticipated Champions League quarter-final clash with Arsenal on Tuesday, he reckons that he should be given the opportunity to represent his country this summer. That’s despite the last of his 49 England caps coming during the 2022 World Cup and no communication with Gareth Southgate since his move to Munich.
“Obviously, I want to be a part of the England set-up and I believe that I should be a part of it, that I’m that level of a player,” Dier told Gary Neville on The Overlap.
“I haven’t spoken at all to Gareth Southgate, but you try and play as well as possible for your club and then the decision is out of your hands.
“Since the World Cup, I wouldn’t say that I’ve had any dip in form, I’m playing the best football of my career since [Antonio] Conte came [to Tottenham] and I’ve carried it on since I’ve been here [at Bayern], and I think I’ve shown that.”
The 30-year-old also opened up on the pain of not being included in England’s squad for the most recent European Championships in 2021, having previously made the squads for Euro 2016 under Roy Hodgson and the World Cup in 2018, Southgate’s first tournament.
“It’s s*** sitting at home, not being there is not fun,” Dier admitted. “It’s some of the best times of your life, with the England national team where it is now, there is a great feeling in the camp and you’re training with the best players in the country every day.
“Going away for a month for a tournament and living that together, you miss a lot of things aside from the football, too.”
The Cheltenham-born centre-back, who can also play in midfield and at right-back, then went on to challenge perceptions of his career. “People think that I’m 37 or something, but I’m 30 years old and am nowhere near the end of my prime and imagine that this will be my prime,” Dier argued.
“When I look around the players I’ve played with in my career, like [Mousa] Dembele, [Jan] Vertonghen, [Toby] Alderweireld, [Hugo] Lloris – all these guys, they were 31, 32 and were playing their best football at Tottenham.”
He added: “I think there is a lack of appreciation for what I’ve achieved in my career so far. I know what I’ve done and I’m pretty calm with that. When you’re at the same place for nine years, every player goes through ups and downs, but they can be disguised a bit more if you move clubs.
“If you change clubs three times in nine years, and you go through ups and downs, it’s seen as more of a normal thing because he’s changed club and settling in, but if you’re in the same place going through those ups and downs, it’s a difficult thing to manage.”
Dier certainly has a point to prove when he returns to North London on Tuesday.
