Eric Dier's England U21 Withdrawal Was Risky but Should Pay off for Tottenham
It has been a relatively tumultuous few weeks in the young career of Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier.
Off the back of a solid start to Premier League life, the 20-year-old came under unprecedented personal scrutiny after a mistake in the 2-1 loss to Newcastle United. Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino then pulled him out of the firing line in favour of the fit-again, more experienced Kyle Naughton.
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This past week came Dier's decision to withdraw from the England Under-21 squad for friendlies against Portugal and France. It's a choice that carried risk but one that could pay off for the player and his team moving forward.
The risk lay predominantly in the reaction and any resulting criticisms and consequences.
Dier's England boss, Gareth Southgate, confirmed "Eric completely has my blessing" after he agreed to allow the player to stay at Tottenham and work on his game.
"I have had other scenarios where players have elected not to come and they are not here, but I am totally comfortable with this," Southgate also said prior to England facing Portugal, according to The Telegraph's John Percy.
"We had quite a mature conversation about it and he feels there are parts of his game that he wants to work at," Southgate went on, noting they agreed Dier's future was likely to be at centre-back, rather than the full-back position he has occupied in recent months.
The announcement did not prompt the same furore as when then-Blackburn Rovers player David Bentley withdrew from the under-21s ahead of the 2007 European Championships. Dier has already helped ensure England's qualification for next summer's tournament, and he did not leave Southgate in the lurch during the current international get-together.
Still, there was scepticism in places.
"Dier's decision is certain to be viewed with suspicion in some quarters as he has played right-back for most of this season at club level," wrote Percy in his Telegraph piece, alluding to a "conspiracy theory" the long-time Lisbon resident would opt to play for Portugal rather than England, something denied by Southgate and the player.
It all brought to mind the then-England Under-21 manager Stuart Pearce's passionate response at the time of Bentley's withdrawal, one likely to have been shared by many in the present regarding Dier.
"For me, representing your country is not about what suits you, it's about what suits your country, whether it be on the sporting field, whether it be in the armed forces," Pearce told BBC Sport back in June 2007. "When your country comes calling, you put them first and yourself second."
Dier's logic just about excuses him from not adhering to Pearce's patriotic reasoning. As he clarified it to Tottenham's official website:
"I just felt that this two-week period gives me the opportunity to work on parts of my game that I have had problems with over the past two months, personal elements I need to work on both physically and on the football pitch that I think will make me a better player for both club and country in the long-term."
"It is far from a rest," Dier went on. "This is a period where I can spend time at my new club and put a lot of work in to improve because during the season these opportunities do not come around too often for Spurs or England because of the number of games we have to prepare for."
Southgate probably let on a little too much about Dier's own long-term preference to play centre-back. With Spurs' current issues there, Dier will be aware he has a chance of staking a claim to get more minutes in the position. His England boss' comments will have led some who took them at face value to believe it was a case of centre-back or nothing for Dier.
The evidence of his work for Spurs suggests this is far from the case. His chief intention for not going on England duty is clearly to work on aspects of his game he believes will help him be better for club and country.
In reality there is not much wrong with Dier as a defender. His concentration has let him down a few times this season. As a full-back, he could do with learning a little more positional discipline, too.
He is young, though, and these things can be learned with experience.
You only had to see Dier's response to allowing Sammy Ameobi's equaliser in the earlier mentioned Newcastle loss to see how seriously he takes his work. The right-back had been near impeccable up until then. But he made a costly mistake and was clearly livid with himself.
Against Southampton a couple of weeks prior, there was something which appeared to hint at Dier's passion for his craft—reinforced by the angry Magpies reaction and his comments this week.
Sitting on the Tottenham bench next to Mousa Dembele, the younger player listened as the Belgium international pointed something out on the pitch. For a good few moments they discussed it before fixing their attentions back on the game. Dier later replaced the injured Kyle Naughton and barely missed a beat.
This week's England situation will almost certainly be brought up if he does not perform well in upcoming games (one or two of which are likely to be at right-back with Naughton suspended and Kyle Walker just coming back).
If Dier has made good use of of two-week period, though, do not be surprised to see this thoughtful, impressive young defender quickly improve on the decent standard he has already set this season.
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