Dier: “It was the best decision I could have made”

Just over eight years ago, a young midfielder on loan from Sporting Lisbon, Portugal, captained Everton Under-18s to a 2-0 win in the FA Premier Academy League at Spurs Lodge, our former training base in Chigwell.

It was 20 August, 2011. Harry Kane, 18, had made his debut against Hearts in the Europa League two days earlier. Eric Dier was 17 at the time. Little did he know then that he’d go on to wear the armband for Spurs – and England – and make over 200 appearances and counting for his opponents that day.

It’s not a game that lingers too long in his memory. “I do remember going to the old training ground,” he told us, but the fact (a) we’re playing Everton on Sunday and (b) we’ve dug out photographs of the game got him thinking again about his short spell on the blue half of Merseyside, an important time for him before returning to Lisbon and then joining us three years later.

“I was at Sporting Lisbon and there were different reasons I needed to leave at that time, Everton were willing to do a loan deal because I didn’t want to leave Sporting for good, they were willing to see how things went and they were really good to me,” he reflected.

“I was there for half a season (2010/11) and then a full season (2011/12) and it went really well. I learned a lot there. It was quite an eye-opening experience for me, very different in many ways to Portugal and when I went back to Sporting, I was much better for it.”

Eric would never think in these terms, but a look at those photographs and the old football cliche ‘the boy done good’ does spring to mind - breaking through and becoming a mainstay at Spurs, playing regular Champions League football, 40 caps for England including appearances in Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup – all by the age of 25. Indeed, between 2015-2018, Eric featured in 146 of our 161 matches in all competitions.

As we all know though, it’s been a tough time for Eric and for the team of late and the focus is very much forward, rather than back.

“When you look at it like that it’s very nice, but we live in the moment and when you reach a target, your ambitions go to another target and you go through that cycle,” he explained.

“When your reality changes, your perception of everything changes as well. For example, if you start playing for England, that becomes the standard for you and you don’t look back and think ‘okay, I’ve played for England’, you continue looking forward.”

So, was that 17-year-old dreaming of playing for England? “Of course, but you don’t really think about it, those are the targets very few players will make, and you try to take one step of the ladder at a time, trying to reach that level,” he added. “I managed to get there earlier than I thought I would. I believed I would, but I didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did.

“I was very comfortable at Sporting and coming to Tottenham was a risk, for me, in a sense - but it was the best decision I could have made.”

Eric will certainly be thinking Everton again as we prepare for Sunday’s Premier League encounter at Goodison Park (4.30pm).

“It’s a very difficult game,” he added. “We managed to get a great result at Goodison Park last season (6-2 win), and they are going through a bit of a difficult moment as well. They need the win, we need the win - like every game - so it’s going to be interesting. I think we can take a lot of confidence from the way we’ve played against them in the past and we need to bounce back.”