What’s the story?
With Manchester United looking like they’ve stolen Romelu Lukaku from right underneath Chelsea’s noses, it appears that Nemanja Matic’s move from the Stamford Bridge outfit to United has stalled with the defending champions aversed to the idea of adding squad depth to a direct rival. The Telegraph are reporting that this means Jose Mourinho and co. have rekindled their interest in Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier in order to strengthen their midfield.
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Eric Dier has a rather fascinating background having grown up in Portugal and having learnt his trade there with Sporting CP’s youth establishment, Having joined there aged 9 in 2003, he stayed there till 2014 (spending a year on loan at Everton – representing the U-18 side and winning the 2010/11 U-18 Premier League with the side). He broke into the Sporting first squad in 2012-13, and spent two years and played 31 games for the Primera Liga giants.
In 2014, Tottenham Hotspur signed up the versatile Englishman for £4 million who can play comfortably across defence and central midfield and he’s represented the Londoners 135 times. A cornerstone of one of the League’s best midfields, he signed an extension that should keep him at the club till 2021, but then again we all know how football, and Daniel Levy, works.
Oh, and Dier was a Manchester United fan as a youngster.
The heart of the matter
Possessing a unique style of his own – something he himself calls a cross between Portuguese and English sides – it’s understandable that Jose Mourinho looks favourably at the midfielder as he’s the type of versatile, quality, player the Portuguese manager loves having in his squad. While it had been reported that United already had one bid rejected for Dier, this summer, the Spurs hierarchy maybe willing to listen to anything in the region of £50 million, or around 56 million Euros.
As for the Nemanja Matic reports, many believe that just as with the Alvaro Morata links, Manchester United have been using the Serb as a smokescreen as they made their patient approach towards their real target – Eric Dier.
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The last time United got a central midfielder from Tottenham, a lad by the name of Michael Carrick, it wasn’t a half-bad buy no?
Could he really replace Carrick, though?
Author’s take
Tottenham are under no pressure to sell Dier or any of their budding stars and their coach Mauricio Pochettino is likely to fight tooth and nail against the transfer – hence United‘s continued monitoring of Nemanja Matic, Monaco’s Fabinho and Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl.
As for Dier, it is understood that while he is happy at White Hart Lane, Dier is open to the move considering two major factors: the promise of a (more-or-less) permanent midfield spot at United as the Red Devils wean off their dependence on Michael Carrick and the possibility that he could also double his £75,000-a-week wages.
