UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers: 4 England World Cup stars whose international careers could be over

#3 Eric Dier

Eric Dier played a key role in the World Cup, but injuries and illnesses have curtailed him since

Another Tottenham star, Eric Dier burst onto the international scene in late 2015 and for a while at least, it felt like England had found the best holding midfielder that they’d been able to call upon in a long time. Dier might’ve been distrusted by some fans, but for the most part, his early years with England were successful; he scored key goals against Germany, Russia and Slovakia, and then famously scored the final penalty in England’s monumental shoot-out win over Colombia in last summer’s World Cup.

Since then, though, Dier has struggled for minutes for both club and country. He played extremely well in the Three Lions’ UEFA Nations League wins over Spain and Croatia last autumn, but overall his 2018/19 season was one heavily disrupted by injuries and illnesses, and overall he was only able to make 28 appearances for Tottenham – his lowest number since joining the club in 2014.

More worryingly for the midfielder, it feels like he’s gone from being a key member of Southgate’s squad – one of his leadership group – to a forgotten man, as he’s been left out of the current squad. It’s hardly surprising given he’s barely featured for Tottenham in 2019/20 thus far, but there are other issues, too.

Declan Rice has emerged as Southgate’s preferred option for the team’s holding midfield spot, and while Dier is more than capable of challenging Rice, there’s also the chance that Southgate chooses to move Jordan Henderson into the spot to allow a player like Dier’s Spurs teammate Harry Winks into the starting XI. Essentially, unless Dier can establish himself back in Tottenham’s first team, it’ll be hard for him to win his England spot back – and even then, it certainly won’t be easy.