Eric Dier – The Joker card

It’s August 27th, 2:20pm and Tottenham have just drawn 1-1 against Liverpool. Most people will probably remember that game for Vorm’s heroic save against Coutinho. But this wasn’t the whole story. After 28 minutes, Kyle Walker had to go off with an illness and with Trippier not in the squad it meant that Eric Dier had to play right back. An hour later he delivered the cros that Danny Rose converted to earn Spurs a share of the spoils.

Just a couple months earlier Dier had played for England in France and scored a Free Kick against Russia. And just a few months later he was playing Centre Back next to Alderweireld and Vertonghen. All of this highlights one of Dier’s major strengths: His versatility. Growing up bilingual in Portugal means that he did something most English players either don’t do at all or only do late in their career: Experience living and playing in a different culture.

There is no way to tell if that is the reason why Eric Dier ended up being the player he is now but there is a sense of English players being shoehorned into one position or one certain role with the more versatile players being developed elsewhere with Germany being a very good example. They even have their own worse version of Eric Dier with Matthias Ginter.

Players like Eric Dier or players with a very diverse skill set that makes it hard to pinpoint them on something they are absolutely astonishing at are often dismissed as “Jack of all trades but master of none” and there are only a few players – like Messi – where it is a widely accepted fact that they are just good at everything.

Yes, Dier is not a flashy player and the Kanes and Eriksens will always have more Youtube videos with dubstep in the background but there are quite a few reasons as to why he has been linked to Manchester United and Bayern München since the beginning of 2017. First of all, for a predominantly defensive player, his passing range is impressive and if playing at Centre Back or in Defensive Midfield he can fulfill all the defensive duties that come with that role quite well. Right Back is probably the worst of the three positions because of Dier’s relative lack of pace but the only better crosser in the current squad is Kieran Trippier and you can’t play Watford every weekend.

At the start of 16/17, Pochettino played Wanyama and Dier in midfield together and since both players are defensive-minded by trade this didn’t really work out because both were playing deeper than they should and it was just a very passive affair in the end. However, despite both being similar they managed to develop a partnership based on their understanding of each other. It allowed Wanyama to break up attacks higher up the pitch and it gave Dier the backup that he also had when he charged forward as a right sided Centre Back in the back three. With Dembele aging, we might see this combo even more in 17/18.

Dier was the also the player who enabled Spurs to play that back three in the first place because he is very well suited to playing RCB allowing Walker (insert sad face) to push forward even more than before. This also freed up Alderweireld to play as the base of the three and ping his diagonal balls all across Premier League pitches. When it got obvious that the back three didn’t work in a game Dier was also the player who enabled that and more thanks to his problem-solving abilities.

His only real weakness is how he acts under physical pressure. When Spurs were pressed high and with intensity, Dier was often one of the first to crumble but that is something that can be worked on and something that should be worked on regarding the whole team.

Players like that are always hard to evaluate. There are obvious strengths but he is unlikely ever going to be a player who is referred to as the star of a team because these are almost always the flashy players who do all the things you see on highlight reels. To use an analogy here, Dier is like a Joker card and there are only a limited amount of Joker cards in the deck and everyone wants one. If that adds up to you being Manchester United who are searching players for all of his three positions, someone like Eric Dier should be worth even more to you.

And how do you replace a player like Dier. Do you just buy one player? No, that a) requires a lot of Scouting and precision and b) he might still not be as good as Eric Dier is in both positions. Do you buy two players? Well, now you have to pay wages twice and might get an unhappy player. So see, Eric Dier should just stay where he is.