Eric Dier’s World Cup message to Djed Spence: “It will be one of the best experiences you’ll have in your career”
Eric Dier has a simple message for Djed Spence ahead of the World Cup: “Enjoy it!”
The versatile defender/wide man made the perfect start to preparations for this summer’s tournament by providing the assist for Harry Kane’s winner against New Zealand in England’s warm up friendly win in Tampa on Saturday night.
Next up, another warm up fixture against Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday before the real thing kicks-off for the Three Lions against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday week, 17 June (9pm UK).
Eric, who left us in 2024 after almost 10 years of service, played in two World Cups, both as a Spurs player. He scored the winning penalty in a shoot-out against Colombia and captained the team in the group game against Belgium as the Three Lions reached the semi-finals in Russia in 2018 and earned the last of his 49 caps with two more appearances in Qatar in 2022.
Team-mates for 18 months following Djed’s arrival from Middlesbrough in the summer 2022, Eric is keeping a close eye on Djed’s progress and delighted he’s been selected for the pinnacle event of world football after featuring 44 times for us last season.
Asked for his message to Djed ahead of the tournament, Eric told us: “Just to enjoy it - I've already told him to! We were together at the club for a while and we stay in touch. I spoke to him a couple of days ago.
“It will be one of the best experiences he's going to have in his career and, hopefully, he’ll have more. I think Djed has fantastic individual characteristics, some of them physical, some of them technical and some of them mental.
“I'm excited to see him with the new manager at Spurs next season. I think he has fantastic attributes. He just needs to keep working hard and stay calm. He has fantastic abilities and I like him, too. I feel like he had a tough time, you know, for a while and he showed real resilience to get through that.”