Tue 05 August 2014, 11:30
Tottenham HotspurEric Dier is ready to give everything to succeed at Spurs.
The England Under-21 international defender has joined us on a five-year contract from Sporting Lisbon.
After moving to Portugal with his family as a child, Eric was spotted by Sporting and progressed through the ranks at the Primeira Liga side. He went on to make 30 appearances in the first team.
He told Spurs TV that he always dreamed of returning 'home' to England to play in the Premier League - and now he's here.
"Spurs is a massive club, I’ve known about them since I was young and always enjoyed the way they play, the attacking football and coming from Portugal, that will suit me," he said.
"This season I just want to adapt quickly to the Premier League and just do the best I can, try my hardest and have a good first season here.
"I’m really happy to be here and I want to try to impress the manager, keep the fans happy and try to do my stuff on the pitch, try to do as well as possible."
Eric told us about his upbringing in Portugal.
"I moved there with my family when I was six," he explained. "I got picked up by Sporting when I was eight and went through their youth system and ended up playing for the first team.
"It’s a strange background, everyone seems surprised by it, it’s ‘an Englishman abroad’ but I didn’t go abroad for football, it just happened that way.
"I moved there with my family and then football got involved in my life and I went through Sporting’s youth team like anyone would here.
"Initially it was hard because I didn’t speak the language, so that made it tough and I was seen as a bit of an outsider when I was younger but once I picked up the language it was really easy. I was one of them really.
"It’s always been my ambition, my dream to come back to England and play in the Premier League so I’m really happy to be back."
